| 1757 | Born in London (28 November) to James Blake, a hosier, and his wife Catherine Wright Armitage Blake. |
| 1767 | Enrolled in Henry Pars's drawing school. |
| 1772 | Apprenticed to James Basire, 31 Great Queen Street, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society. |
| 1779 | Apprenticeship ends. Becomes journeyman copy engraver. Admitted as student to Royal Academy of Art's Schools of Design. |
| 1780 | Gordon Riots in London (June), in which Blake may have
participated. Arrested on suspicion of spying during sketching trip on the River Medway. |
| 1782 | Marries Catherine Boucher (18 August). |
| 1783 | Publishes Poetical Sketches. |
| 1784 | Sets up printing and publishing partnership with James Parker at 27
Broad Street. Begins writing An Island in the Moon (c. 1784-85). |
| 1787 | Younger brother Robert dies (February). |
| c. 1788 | Invents relief etching. Publishes All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion, first illuminated books. |
| 1789 | Publishes Songs of Innocence and begins The Book of
Thel (1789-90). Writes Tiriel (c. 1789). Attends organizational meeting of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) Church (April). |
| 1790 | Publishes The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. |
| 1791 | Writes at least one part of several proposed parts of The French
Revolution. Composes and engraves six original designs for Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories from Real Life. |
| 1793 | Publishes Visions of the Daughters of Albion, America a
Prophecy, and For Children: The Gates of Paradise. Engraves Albion rose. |
| 1794 | Publishes Europe: a Prophecy, Songs of Experience, and The [First] Book of Urizen. |
| 1795 | Publishes The Book of Ahania, The Book of Los, and
The Song of Los. Produces 12 large color-printed drawings. Works on 537 water color illustrations to Edward Young's Night Thoughts. |
| c. 1796 | Begins writing Vala, or The Four Zoas. |
| 1797 | Begins set of 116 water color illustrations to the poems of Thomas
Gray for John Flaxman. Young's Night Thoughts published with 43 plates engraved by Blake after his own designs. |
| 1800 | Moves to Felpham, Sussex, to work for patron William Hayley. |
| 1801 | Produces eight water color illustrations of Milton's Comus for
the Rev. Joseph Thomas, the first of several series of Milton illustrations that will later include the Nativity Ode, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Paradise Lost, and Paradise Regained. |
| 1803 | Indicted on charges of sedition (October) as a result of a quarrel
with a soldier, John Scolfield, whom he had evicted from his garden
(August). Returns to London. |
| 1804 | Acquitted of sedition charges (January). Begins work on Milton a Poem and Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion. |
| 1805 | Begins illustrations for Blair's The Grave, to be published by
Robert Cromek. Produces 19 water color illustrations of the Book of Job for Thomas Butts (c. 1805-6). |
| 1809 | Exhibits 16 paintings at 28 Broad Street, accompanied by a Descriptive Catalogue defending his theory and practice. |
| 1818 | Meets John Linnell. Begins sketching "Visionary Heads" for John Varley. |
| c. 1820 | Publishes For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise. |
| 1821 | Virgil's Pastorals, edited by Robert John Thornton, published with wood engravings by Blake. |
| 1822 | Publishes The Ghost of Abel and On Homers Poetry [and] On Virgil (c. 1822). |
| 1824 | Begins illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. |
| 1826 | Publishes 21 engraved Illustrations of the Book of Job. Produces Laocoön (c. 1826). Begins Genesis Manuscript. |
| 1827 | Dies 12 August in his rooms at 3 Fountain Court. |