How Does William Blake's Life Affected His Work?

William Blake was an artist, poet, and engraver born on November 28th, 1757 in London, England. Blake grew up in England and began writing poems at a very young age. The romantic era of which he grew up in affected his poems dramatically along with some tragic events that occurred in his life. Blake grew up from an early age with a heavy emphasis on the Bible. This heavily affected his poems and his lifestyle. He was homeschooled by his mother until the age of 10 when he went to Henry Pars’s Drawing school. This started Blake’s career as an artist where he began drawing the human body and recasting ancient structures. This brought Blake’s attention to stonework where he found his love for engraving at the age of 14. In 1779, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman copy engraver. Here he began to work for publishers and on book projects. Blake began to prepare himself for a career as an artist, so he enrolled at Royal Academy of Arts Schools of Design. Blake's privately published Poetical Sketches, a series of poems that he had written over 14 years. In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher. When Blake married her she was illiterate, however he taught her how to read, write and draw. Catherine believe in his visions and
poems, thus she supported him until nearly 45 years later when he died. The most traumatic event of William Blake's life occurred in 1787. His brother Robert died from tuberculosis at the age of 24. The tragic death of Robert changed william’s life and writing styles. He began to write darker poems and even mention seeing Robert’s spirit multiple times later on in his life. One of Blake’s darker poems caused by this event was named “The Angel.”
Blake wrote “The Angel” in 1794 at the age of 37.
This poem portrays the images of innocence and betrayal throughout. Blake began by introducing the speaker of the poem “And that I was a maiden queen, Guarded by an Angel mild” on lines two and three. This introduces the speaker as a “Maiden Queen.” During this time period this means that the queen was unmarried and pure. Blake continues by saying “i wept both night and day, I wept both day and night” in lines five and seven. He uses repetition here to show the readers that the queen is very sad and is crying. Blake also uses words such as wept and tears to show the speaker's mood of the poem. This helped set up the entire poem's structure and
mood.
The author begins by introducing the speaker as a young maiden queen. During this time period a young maiden queen symbolizes an unmarried woman. This woman has a guardian angel who is sent to protect her from her struggles throughout her life. The speaker begins crying every night even when she is not sad to draw the angel to her. The angel soon realizes this and quits coming. By the time the angel comes back it is too late. The woman is now very independent and old. We know this, because the author states “For the time of youth was fled, And grey hairs were on my head.”
The theme of this poems is to never take someone for granted who is always there for you.The angel in this poems is sent to take care of the young girl when her life troubles her. This relates to Blake's life, because many people were taken from here suddenly such as his brother and his first wife. These losses inspired Balke to write “The Angel” and his feelings came out throughout the writing.
Overall Blake lived a life full of tragedy and losing people he deeply cared for. Along with the time period Blake battled his inner darkness every day which eventually came out through his poems. Blake is often known for his deepness within simple poems and the ability to portray dark scenes in just a few lines.