William Blake was born in 1757 to a large family living in London. He had no formal schooling, but instead roamed the streets and often wandered the surrounding countryside. He was artistically inclined even from a young age, but it wasn’t until he found a community of artists and writers that he published his first book of poems, in 1783. This quote is from the poem “Proverbs of Hell,” in which Blake celebrates the divinity of all things, from the lion’s wrath to the peacock’s pride, the bird’s nest, the spider’s web, and most certainly the friendship of men.