Mad Song was originally published in Poetic Sketches, which was a collection of Blake's juvenile stories, printed by private subscription in 1783. Blake wrote this at the age of fourteen. The madman thinks of nature as an imprisoning tomb.

The Book of Urizen is Blake's version (or parody) of the biblical Book of Genesis.

Blake illustrated Mary Wollstonecraft's successful children's book, Original Stories from Real Life, as a favor.

Blake earned himself the reputation of a mystic. He deliberately wrote in the style of prophets and writers who focused solely on the apocalyse. Some believe Blake had convinced himself that he was in fact Milton...

Most of Blake's painting are actually prints of work made on copper plates. He claimed the techniques he used for his etchings were revealed to him in a dream. His engravings are mere inches in size, but superbly detailed. He would drawn on the paltes with a resistant medium, and then etch them with acid. The text and designs came out as a relief, and were printable in any color. He called this process "illuminated printing" and used this technique in his art until he died.

Schvinehunt (our website address) means "pig dog" in German. Jess just likes the sound of it. -_-