William Blake by G.K. Chesterton is the biography of the well-known English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. Excerpt: ‘WILLIAM BLAKE would have been the first to understand that the biography of anybody ought really to begin with the words, ‘In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.’ If we were telling the story of Mr. Jones of Kentish Town, we should need all the centuries to explain it.’