On this day, 268 years ago, on November 28, 1757 (October 17, 1757 lunar calendar), William Blake, one of the representatives of Romantic literature, was born. William Blake (November 28, 1757 - August 12, 1827), an English poet, painter, and one of the representatives of Romantic literature. Blake was born into a poor stocking merchant family in London, with no formal education. At the age of 14, he worked as an apprentice in engraving. He studied fine arts at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1779 and married in 1782. Soon after, Blake printed his first collection of poetry, Poetic Sketches. In 1784, after the death of his father, Blake began to collaborate with the famous publisher Joseph Johnson. Among Johnson's collaborators were many outstanding British figures of the time, such as Joseph Presley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas Payne. Blake quickly became friends with Mary Wollstonecraft and was invited to illustrate his works. After 1788, he published four collections of poetry one after another. Beginning in 1825, Blake was tortured by illness. After that, he was determined to complete the illustration of Dante's Divine Comedy before he died, but he was unable to complete this vast project until his death. Comments: English struggle, like Dickens.