Blake occupies a place in the Christian history of London through his now-famous illustrations dealing with religious and Christian subjects, and for his own mystical poetry. His drawings were reproduced by means of etched plates and later coloured. Blake’s best-known works include Songs of Innocence, Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Songs of Experience and Inventions from the Book of Job. Illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Thomas Gray’s poems were unfinished when he died. In 1782 Blake was married, and his wife assisted him with his work. They lived at various addresses in London and Hampstead Heath, one of which survives today (20 Molton Street). His religious experience consisted of a series of visions in which he claimed to have talked face to face with figures such as Moses, Milton and Shakespeare. His was, therefore, no orthodox faith, but a highly romanticized individualism in which, for example, he accepted the Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of sins but rejected the atonement of Christ. In the period immediately after his death he was neglected and almost forgotten. Today he is considered one of the greatest creative spirits of the late eighteenth century. A monument was placed on his grave in Bunhill Burying Ground in 1927, one hundred years after his death. Some of Blake’s short poetry is still very well known, including ‘Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright’, ‘Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?’ and the following which alludes to the myth that Jesus visited England:
And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England’s pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark Satanic mills