Born in London in 1757, William Blake soon showed evidence of his artistic talent. His father, a hosier, encouraged the boy's gifts, and Blake was apprenticed at 14 to the engraver James Basire, after which he began illustrating and printing his own works of poetry. First published in 1789, 'Songs of Innocence' was followed four years later by 'Songs of Experience', with a combined edition reaching the bookstalls in 1794. The two collections explore the naive joys of childhood and the darker, more jaundiced view that life imposes as the infant grows to maturity. But Blake does not use this...