When on the Highest

Title

When on the Highest

Student Commentary:

This plate from Milton (1967 facsimile) features a large body of text above a relatively simple illustration. In the image, a man walks on a path alongside a seaside cottage. The man is dressed in a formal blue coat and has short, dark hair. Above the cottage, an angelic figure looks down at the man. Blake scholars believe that the man in this plate is William Blake, and that the cottage is his cottage at Felpham where he resided between 1800 and 1803 while working on a commission for writer William Hayley as well as on Milton. The angelic figure is a representation of Ololon, a spiritual component of Milton.

Links:

Detailed View of Image at the William Blake Archive

About this Book

Source

William Blake@Union Digital Collection