William Blake (b. Nov. 28, 1757, London--d. Aug. 12, 1827, London) was the first of the great English Romantic poets, as well as a painter and printer and one of the greatest engravers in English history. A rebel all of his life, Blake was once arrested on a trumped up charge of sedition. Blake is frequently referred to as a mystic, but this is not really accurate. Most of Blake's paintings (such as "The Ancient of Days" above, the frontispiece to Europe: a Prophecy) are actually prints made from copper plates, which he etched in a method he claimed was revealed to him in a dream. As an artist Blake broke the ground that would later be cultivated by the Pre-Raphaelites.
