on August the 12th 1827. Although he was always poor, Blake derived strength from an exceptionally rich spiritual existence. William Blake's reputation as an unconventional poet partly arose because he wrote using a self made mythological world, inspired by spirits. It was also because the criticism of the time came from an age incapable of comprehending imaginative poetry. This was evident in most critics when they misinterpreted Blake's intellect level as insanity. After reading Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence Wordsworth commented that "there is no doubt this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott." Blake's work is often difficult to read, as it requires someone who feels at home in the modes of thought, feeling and expression characteristic of mysticism. Blake's work was considered difficult to criticise not only because of his intellect but because he simultaneously used two means of expression, verbal and visual. Also, only a small part of his output was in the form of a more or less traditional kind, most was quite different in its literary texture. Blake was an engraver by trade and was only a poet incidentally. However, in the late 1700's the emphasis of his work shifted towards poetic expression. It was in this time that his two most renowned works were completed, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The two works combine to show the contrary states of the human soul. The Songs of Innocence were completed first and are the result of the creative up rush following Blake's perception of the infinite in all things. Blake used innocence because the entry into the world of spiritual sensation is the entry of a reborn soul into a New World. To achieve this Blake used the natural symbolic expression through the innocence of a child. Hence poems such as The schoolboy, The Little Black Boy, The Little Girl Lost, The Lit...
