The Grave (poem)

[2] Its popularity grew gradually throughout the 18th century, however, in part because of the praise that it received from John Pinkerton (in his Letters of Literature (1786), written under the pseudonym Robert Heron).

[8] Campbell stated that "the eighteenth century has few specimens of blank verse of so powerful and so simple a character as that of The Grave", and he described the poem as popular "not merely because it is religious, but because its language and imagery are free, natural, and picturesque".

[9] Davenport himself went on to state that whilst the language "is occasionally familiar", echoing the charge of vulgarity levelled by the British Poets editor, "many of his similies, epithets, and detached expressions are eminently beautiful".

[9] Johnstone similarly stated that the poem "everywhere exhibits a manly and vigorous spirit; and if some of the detached sketches want the grace of colouring and the smoothness of beauty, the truth of their anatomy is unimpeachable, and the moral expression dignified and masculine".

[11] However, Johnstone was not wholly positive in his criticism, observing that in the close of the poem there is "short-coming, if not absolute failure", and that the final triumph of Resurrection over the powers of Death and Hell were "felt to be wanting".

Had Schiavonetti been likewise employed to similarly transcribe Blake's Canterbury Pilgrims and alter it by "correct smooth touches" then "a different fate would have awaited the composition" from the somewhat lacklustre one that it actually enjoyed.

[6] Whilst agreeing that the illustrations were far the better for Schiavonetti's alterations, the reviewer accuses Gilchrist of "uncompromising partisanship" and a wholesale bias against and negative portrayal of Cromek.

[16] The most rounded account of the affair, and of Blake's subsequent dealing with Cromek and Thomas Stothard over the Canterbury Pilgrims, is given by G. E. Bentley Jr,[17] who relates the opinions of all parties and attempts to summarize the evidence, which is both complex and inconclusive.

Death's Door by William Blake, an illustration for The Grave . The "resting youth" figure at the top can also be seen (with variations in inking, colouring, and background) in several of Blake's prior works. It appears on plate 21 of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , in America , and in plate 4 of Jerusalem . [ 1 ] The figure of the old man at the bottom also occurs elsewhere, as an illustration, also entitled Death's Door for Blake's own For Children: The Gates of Paradise , as well as in plate 12 of America . There is a similar figure of an old man, on one crutch and being helped through the streets by a young child, in London and in Jerusalem . [ 1 ] The first time that Blake put both figures together, as here, was in a pencil sketch that dates to the time of America . They also appear together in a further (undated) pencil sketch, traced over in ink, with a pyramid in the background. [ 1 ]
Title page of Cromek's 1808 publication of The Grave with Blake's drawing engraved by Schiavonetti