Eternity’s Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake

‘Damrosch captures Blake’s creativity in all its complexity, bringing to life his work as a poet, engraver and painter in a revolutionary age’ ‘ Nicholas Roe, Literary Review

“Leans heavily on the poetry, etchings and engravings, the works illustrating the man’ this attractive volume would make a delightful present’?’Robert Carver, The Tablet

‘This book is written in a very accessible style, is peppered with analogies and punctuated with dry wit’ a very good read and a healthy addition to the subject.’?’St John Simpson, British Museum Magazine

‘The book’s strength in its sumptuous colour reproductions of Blake’s artwork and in Damrosch’s attentive reading of them.’?’Hilary Davies, The Tablet

‘Lucid and absorbing, . . . [with] an attractive hint of a secret passion [and] an unusual sense of ease and intimacy with Blake’s work.’?’Michael Wood, New York Times Book Review

‘This astute, generously illustrated study is an excellent introduction to William Blake. It will help both new and experienced readers to understand Blake as poet, painter, engraver, printer’and as a person.’?’Andrew Lincoln, Queen Mary University of London

‘Acclaimed scholar and biographer Damrosch brings decades of study to this analysis of William Blake’s art, poetry, religion, and philosophy. . . . The author’s study of the man and clear style makes this much easier to read and tempts readers to seek out more. . . . Damrosch expertly navigates Blake’s ‘questing imagination,’ which ‘has never ceased to startle and inspire.’ General readers looking for a challenge will love this book and will dive into Blake’s work.’?’Kirkus Reviews, starred review

‘Damrosch’s readings are nuanced, sensitive, and deeply perceptive, touched with wonder at the poet’s originality and alive to the ways that Blake’s beliefs presented ‘a wide-ranging challenge to orthodox morality.’ With generous illustrations, including a gallery of breathtaking full-color plates, Damrosch’s study will build an appreciation among scholars and general readers alike for Blake’s ‘vast, complicated myth’ and reinforce his place in the Western canon as a ‘profound thinker’ and creative genius ‘not in a single art but in two.”?’Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Leo Damrosch’s luminous new book on William Blake forsakes esoteric scholarship and addresses itself to the common reader who is invited to a festive celebration of the great English poet who was also an extraordinary visual artist and a profound and original thinker.”‘Harold Bloom

‘[An] excellent book, . . . [aiming] to be introductory in the best sense: ‘to help nonspecialists appreciate Blake’s profoundly original vision and . . . the symbols in which he conveyed it.’ . . . Scores of illustrations and color plates give us a small portion of Blake’s countless prints, engravings and watercolor designs, and his career is treated with admirable fullness.’?’William Pritchard, Wall Street Journal

New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice

‘As I read the first beautifully written chapters of Leo Damrosch’s Eternity’s Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake, I was inspired to look even more carefully at Blake’s composite art. Damrosch’s prose flows, filled with imaginative lucidity.’?’Susanne Sklar, Arts Fuse

‘[An] intimate book, part biography, part critical reflection, and part a scholar’s testimony to the experience of actually teaching Blake over many years. . . . Damrosch writes movingly of his own convictions. . . . The main sweep of his book carries the reader as steadily as possible into the increasingly complex world of Blake’s private mythology, while ingeniously relating it to his illuminated manuscripts (many beautifully reproduced in color, and some decidedly weird). . . . Damrosch keeps a fine eye on the revealing biographical detail that continuously anchors Blake in the real world.’?’Richard Holmes, New York Review of Books

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015

‘[Damrosch] offers this insightful book as ‘an invitation to understanding and enjoyment.’. . . The book also includes nearly 100 reproductions’with 40 color plates’of Blake’s stunning artwork. . . . Damrosch succeeds in making a notoriously difficult poet and artist more accessible. . . . His sharp insights clarify both the context and originality of Blake’s art, and his passion for Blake’s work is often magnetic. Readers who accept Damrosch’s generous invitation will better understand and more deeply enjoy the enduring distinctiveness of Blake’s vision.’?’Christopher J. Scalia, Weekly Standard

Finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle award in the criticism category.

‘Wise and original.’?’Rosie Schaap, New York Times Magazine

‘Illuminating and absorbing. . . In Damrosch’s hands Blake emerges as behemoth and mystic. We see the powerful, insatiable, stubborn commitment to calling which defined Blake’s life, and we also are helped to see freshly the art Blake made to accompany his poems.’?’Tess Taylor, LitHub

‘An outstanding book . . . [combining] learned analysis with a warm and conversational style. . . . [Its] primary distinction . . . is its intricate analysis of the relation between Blake’s verse and his vivid paintings and etchings ‘ beautifully reproduced here in abundant color plates and illustrations.’?’Michael Lindgren, Washington Post