William Blake is buried in Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, City Road, Finsbury, London,
England. (This cemetery was originally the 'Dissenters' graveyard. There
is no church attached to the cemetery and the ground is unconsecrated.)
Gravestone of William Blake
Photograph by Mike Reed
The
cemetery was damaged during the Second World War and was restored in 1960. The new headstone does not mark the exact position of
Blake's remains, but indicates that he lies nearby.
Blake was born in Broad Street in London. He received no formal
education but was apprenticed to James Basire - an engraver. In 1782 he
married Catherine Boucher, an illiterate woman who he taught to read and
write. Catherine assisted Blake with his engravings. The couple had no
children. With the
help of the sculptor John Flaxman, Blake published his first collection
of poems Poetical Sketches in 1793. In 1789 he
published and engraved Songs of Innocence and in 1794 Songs of
Experience. |
