3624 - Poems and Pictures of William Blake (Greg Kelley)
Course Description
Instructor: Greg Kelley
In the 1780s, the visionary poet and painter William Blake created an extraordinary method for printing both text and image from a single plate. This “illuminated printing” technique—each page hand-sewn into books and individually tinted with watercolor—produced works of remarkable beauty and rarity. Although Blake’s genius went largely unrecognized in his lifetime, these creations now stand among the most treasured achievements in British art and literature.
In this course, we will explore several of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience—poems that remain some of his most captivating and accessible works, offering profound insight into his unique spiritual and artistic vision.
While no textbook is required, students may find it helpful to have the Dover Thrift Edition of Songs of Innocence and Experience (a 99-cent edition).