Monstrous minds: William Blake's The Ghost of a Flea

William Blake trained as a printmaker but had a natural genius for poetry. His art beautifully illuminates his words in his visionary books such as Songs of Innocence and of Experience. In this late work that records what he claimed was a real vision, the Lambeth prophet reveals a dark, monstrous being that inhabits the depths of the human mind. This nightmare creature feels uncannily real. The Ghost of a Flea, circa 1819-20, is part of the Tate Collection Illustration: Tate