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“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity …and some scarce see Nature at all.
But to the eyes of a man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.” — William Blake
( Read more Quotations from William Blake ) http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_blake.html
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William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form “what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language”. His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced“.
Blake embraced the imagination as “the body of God”, or “Human existence itself“.
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and “Pre-Romantic”, for its large appearance in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England – indeed, to all forms of organised religion – Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions and he maintained an amiable relationship with Thomas Paine.
( below: a painting by William Blake, “Ancient of Days” )
