William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker born in London in 1757. Some of his most notable works included Songs of Innocence and of Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Though largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now seen as an important figure in Romantic art and poetry. He produced a diverse body of symbolic work that embraced imagination and human existence. Blake remained in London his whole life but was influential even after his death at age 69 in 1827.