ABSTRACT
William Blake might almost be called a poet of the twentieth century; for it was not until 1927 that Geoffrey Keynes's Nonesuch edition made his complete writings available to the nation for whom he wrote. Blake has been called a mystic; a word which suggests another-wordly contemplative. But Blake's genius was not of that kind. He called himself a prophet; Blake was England's single prophet, 'one who speaks for God', addressing himself to the English nation on matters of public concern. The only book of Blake's which during his lifetime found any publisher but himself was his charming collection of juvenilia, Poetical Sketches. The French Revolution reached the proof stage; but even his radical friend Johnson the bookseller and publisher of St Paul's Churchyard did not dare to issue this unreadable work. The editorial and bibliographical labours of Sir Geoffrey Keynes over the last half century have made Blake accessible, but not comprehensible.
