William Blake by G. K. Chesterton audiobook.

Genre: biography

In this brisk, argumentative portrait, G. K. Chesterton introduces William Blake not as a tame museum poet but as a working London engraver whose art and visions refused every comfortable category. Moving between biography and literary criticism, Chesterton follows Blake from his early apprenticeship and stubborn independence through the difficult years of making prints, writing lyric masterpieces like Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and pursuing the vast, strange ambitions of his prophetic books. Along the way, Chesterton highlights the steady presence of Blake's wife, Catherine, the practical realities of earning a living by engraving, and the small circles of patrons and friends who alternately sustained and misunderstood him. The central conflict is not simply Blake versus poverty or obscurity, but Blake versus the modern habit of calling imagination madness and reducing religion, morality, and beauty to mere mechanism. Chesterton defends Blake's sanity by taking his symbols seriously, challenging the listener to see how spiritual conviction can sharpen, not soften, an artist's edge. The result is a lively invitation to meet Blake as both craftsman and seer, and to reconsider what it means to be truly visionary.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:23:44) Chapter 02

(00:56:14) Chapter 03

(01:24:19) Chapter 04

(01:52:03) Chapter 05

(02:12:40) Chapter 06

(02:31:23) Chapter 07

(02:57:29) Chapter 08

(03:17:03) Chapter 09

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