Poet, Poet, Burning Bright ; the Iconoclastic Poetry and Paintings of William Blake

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In 1809, the poet and painter William Blake (1757-1827) wrote "A Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures, Poetical and Historical Inventions," in which he offered detailed self-analysis to accompany an exhibit of 16 paintings and drawings. Alas, by any standard, the exhibit was a failure and few works were sold.

How gratified, then, Blake would be with Robin Hamlyn and Michael Phillips's "William Blake," a catalog for an exhibit that opened in November at the Tate Gallery in London, and is at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art until June 24. The book includes more than 250 full-color illustrations from the largest exhibit of Blake's work ever mounted. …