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William Blake
Boyhood 1757-1771; Apprenticeship and Marriage; Lyrical Poems; Poland Street and the Early Prophecies; Lambeth; Blake's Ideas on Art; Felpham with Hayley; Milton and Jerusalem; London Once More; Disciples and Death; Blake and the Sublime.
- GenresArt
255 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1926
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 16, 2020
The text is somewhat dull, but informative. The illustrations are stellar, though.
November 6, 2025
Although the book does provide good background information, and fantastic visuals, I feel the artist did not understand who William Blake was.
Although Blake’s artistic system may seem obscure, his choice to reject traditional narrative and artistic standards was both deliberate and radical.
In his biography book, William Blake, Osbert Burdett presents a conflicted view of Blake’s legacy. He admires Blake’s visionary originality, calling him “an extraordinary man” whose life was “heroic” in his resolve to follow his inner truths[1]. However, Burdett also questions Blake’s mental clarity. One of the harsher conclusions Burdett makes is that Blake’s work lacked any “sufficient artistic or intellectual reason.”[2]
These claims warrant a re-evaluation. Burdett often downplays the importance of Blake’s social and political beliefs throughout his book. Blake’s refusal to conform doesn’t characterize him as a failed thinker but as a visionary aligned with other radical artists in history who prioritized creative freedom over institutional approval.
His complexity is precisely what makes him so significant. Blake’s decision to reject Enlightenment ideals in favor of a deeply symbolic and mystical worldview was not a sign of delusion, but a stance for artistic independence.
As Blake famously declared, “I must create my own system, or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason or compare: my business is to create.”[3]
His self-created cosmology—populated by figures such as Urizen, Los, and Orc—is not merely chaos, as Burdett suggests, but a deliberate symbolic framework used to explore the spiritual and psychological aspects of the human experience.
Blake was not “mad,” but mad about the happenings of the world.
Ironically, the very systems Burdett believes Blake couldn’t match are what Blake was actively dismantling in his art. Blake wasn’t trying to outdo tradition just for the sake of it; he was challenging the Enlightenment idea that truth has to be orderly, logical, and based on experience.
Burdett argues that Blake’s prophecies “reflect an artist mastered by his ideas rather than mastering them,”[4] but this assumes that logic and coherence are the only ways to achieve artistic merit. In reality, Blake’s art thrives on ambiguity, contradiction, and emotional impact. Blake was ahead of his time in using disorder as a way to find meaning.
[1] Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 239, 242.
[2 Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 123.
[3] Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 111.
[4] Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 119.
Although Blake’s artistic system may seem obscure, his choice to reject traditional narrative and artistic standards was both deliberate and radical.
In his biography book, William Blake, Osbert Burdett presents a conflicted view of Blake’s legacy. He admires Blake’s visionary originality, calling him “an extraordinary man” whose life was “heroic” in his resolve to follow his inner truths[1]. However, Burdett also questions Blake’s mental clarity. One of the harsher conclusions Burdett makes is that Blake’s work lacked any “sufficient artistic or intellectual reason.”[2]
These claims warrant a re-evaluation. Burdett often downplays the importance of Blake’s social and political beliefs throughout his book. Blake’s refusal to conform doesn’t characterize him as a failed thinker but as a visionary aligned with other radical artists in history who prioritized creative freedom over institutional approval.
His complexity is precisely what makes him so significant. Blake’s decision to reject Enlightenment ideals in favor of a deeply symbolic and mystical worldview was not a sign of delusion, but a stance for artistic independence.
As Blake famously declared, “I must create my own system, or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason or compare: my business is to create.”[3]
His self-created cosmology—populated by figures such as Urizen, Los, and Orc—is not merely chaos, as Burdett suggests, but a deliberate symbolic framework used to explore the spiritual and psychological aspects of the human experience.
Blake was not “mad,” but mad about the happenings of the world.
Ironically, the very systems Burdett believes Blake couldn’t match are what Blake was actively dismantling in his art. Blake wasn’t trying to outdo tradition just for the sake of it; he was challenging the Enlightenment idea that truth has to be orderly, logical, and based on experience.
Burdett argues that Blake’s prophecies “reflect an artist mastered by his ideas rather than mastering them,”[4] but this assumes that logic and coherence are the only ways to achieve artistic merit. In reality, Blake’s art thrives on ambiguity, contradiction, and emotional impact. Blake was ahead of his time in using disorder as a way to find meaning.
[1] Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 239, 242.
[2 Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 123.
[3] Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 111.
[4] Burdett, William Blake, 2012. 119.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews