Thursday 24 May 2012

Who Can Prove Otherwise


The rational sanity of Blake directly fed into a seemly modesty, and an ability realistically to assess his own merits and success as a writer.  'I am more famed in heaven for my works than I could well conceive.  In my brain are studies and chambers filled with books and pictures of old, which I wrote and painted in ages of eternity before my mortal life; and those works are the delight and study of archangels.  Why then should I be anxious about the riches and fame of mortality?  [William Blake to John Flaxman; 21 Sept 1800; Life (1863), ii:21]

1 comment:

Nicola Vincent-Abnett said...

When I think about Blake, I'm always rather reminded of Austin Osman Spare. Like the reminder of Dickens I always get when I read Stephen King.