Poetical Sketches

About this book

Before William Blake's great prophetic books came these young poems, already alert to the presence of spirits, ancient kings and troubled lovers in an ordinary landscape.

Poetical Sketches gathers early songs, dramatic fragments and verse inspired by history and pastoral tradition. Scenes of grief, war and prophecy give early glimpses of the visionary drama that later filled Blake's illuminated books. The young poet is testing familiar poetic forms and finding space within them for his own strange characters and restless imagination.