Death of the Strong Wicked Man, from "The Grave," a Poem by Robert Blair 1813

Editor: So, this is "Death of the Strong Wicked Man" by William Blake, from 1813. It's a print – an engraving, I believe – based on Robert Blair’s poem "The Grave." There’s a real dramatic intensity here; quite theatrical, with a nude man’s spirit escaping while others weep at his deathbed. What catches your eye when you look at this piece? Curator: What strikes me first, isn’t just the drama, but the *vision*. Blake wasn’t just illustrating a poem, he was pulling us into a spiritual realm, his realm. That billowing figure… is it the man’s spirit? Or something else? Look at how Blake uses line and shading—he's practically sculpting light. I almost feel like I’m peering through a crack into another world. What do *you* make of the sheer physicality he imbues in the "wicked" man’s corpse, laid bare before us, especially in relation to the wispy immateriality of the departing soul? Editor: Well, the contrast is pretty stark, right? The muscular, almost aggressively masculine body grounded on the bed versus that ethereal form. Maybe it's about the earthly versus the spiritual. He's a “strong wicked man,” so his physical strength couldn’t save him from… well, whatever is next. Curator: Exactly! And there's the sting. All that earthly power, that robust frame… rendered powerless. Think about Blake’s Romantic contemporaries, grappling with ideas about the sublime, the power of nature, mortality… He's compressing all of that into this single scene, a little morality play, full of, well, a rather un-subtle irony, don't you think? Editor: Yeah, a bit on the nose, perhaps? But those visual cues, like the overturned goblet at the bottom of the image… definitely add another layer. Curator: Right! Every detail feels purposeful, doesn't it? And it all bubbles up to one giant statement about where true power really resides… and it's definitely *not* in bulging biceps. I like how, after a good long look, it sort of undermines itself! Editor: I guess I came in seeing melodrama, but I'm leaving thinking about mortality and a bit of rebellion. Blake is pretty punk rock for 1813. Curator: Haha! Absolutely! Perhaps Blake is simply inviting us to envision the story. It's so nice that we're thinking on it, years and years after he has moved on to envision something else.