William Blake – raging against a sea of troubles

William Blake, the 19th century visionary writer and artist is such an influential giant in literary and artistic circles it is astonishing he was regarded so negatively during his life. One review of his illustrations called them a display of “nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity.” His obituary in the Literary Chronicle described him as “one of those ingenious persons … whose eccentricities were still more remarkable than their professional abilities.&rdquo