Article: The A-Z of William Blake Y IS FOR YOUNG'S `NIGHT THOUGHTS'

One of Blake's earliest full-scale commissions came from Richard Edwards of New Bond Street, who engaged Blake in 1796 to illustrate a lavish edition of the immensely popular poem "Night Thoughts", by Edward Young (1683-1765). Almost forgotten by subsequent centuries (though the surrealists had a kind word for him), Young was in his day considered one of the greatest of all poets, and "Night Thoughts" - largely a collection of pieties about mortality and immortality - was a hit of international proportions, giving rise to an entire poetic movement, the so-called "Graveyard School". Blake had no time whatsoever for most of Young's avowed beliefs, but it did not seem to cramp his energies: he ...

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