Edwin Ellis
Illustration — Blake facsimile (1893) by Edwin John Ellis Edwin John Ellis (1848–1916) was a British poet and illustrator. He is now remembered mostly for the three-volume collection of the works of William Blake he edited with W. It is now criticised, however, for weak scholarship, and preconceptions.
Also recorded as Edwin John Ellis
Edwin Ellis
William Blake · Original volume, in a jp2 zip file at facsimileoforigi00blakuoft · Public domain
- Born
- 1848
- Died
- 1916
- Nationality
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- poet · painter
- Languages
- English
In this article
Life
Ellis was a son of Alexander John Ellis. He was a long-term friend of John Butler Yeats, sharing an interest in aesthetics, and from 1869 a London studio in Newman Street; but was not on good terms with Susan his wife. Ellis was in an association with John Trivett Nettleship, and Sydney Hall, also followers of Blake, as well as John Butler Yeats and George Wilson (1848–1890, a Scottish Pre-Raphaelite inspired artist). Called The Brotherhood, the group was set up in 1869, with Hall leaving early. When the Yeats family moved to Bedford Park in London, which occurred in 1879, Ellis met the son William Butler Yeats. W. B. Yeats became close to the "vague and depressive" Ellis in 1888. Their joint study of Blake began in 1889, and resulted in a major textual discovery, the manuscript of Vala, or the Four Zoas. Ellis took part in the gatherings of the Rhymers' Club, and contributed to their anthologies. R. F. Foster describes his relationship to W. B. Yeats as that of a collaborator, repaid as other rhymers or mentors were by inclusion in Yeats's Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935.
Works
• Fate in Arcadia, and other poems 1892 • Facsimile of the original outlines before colouring of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience executed by William Blake 1893 • The works of William Blake, poetic, symbolic and critical 1893 (with W B Yeats) • Seen in Three Days, 1893 • The Real Blake; a portrait biography, 1907 • Sancan the Bard
Family
Ellis was married, with a German wife who died around 1922.
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Edwin Ellis (poet), revision 1218839938 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Palgrave Macmillan. William Blake - Songs of Innocence and of Experience. 84–. 28 November 2013. 978-1-137-38245-0.
- 2.Essick, Robert N. Blake, William.
- 3.Edwin John Ellis Collection, University of Reading, Archive and Museum Database.
- 4.William Michael Murphy. Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats (1839-1922). Syracuse University Press. 57. 2001. 978-0-8156-0725-0.
- 5.Oxford University Press. W. B. Yeats: A Life. The apprentice mage, 1865-1914. I. 12. 1998. 978-0-19-288085-7.
- 6.William Michael Murphy. Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats (1839-1922). Syracuse University Press. 61. 2001. 978-0-8156-0725-0.
- 7.Oxford University Press. W. B. Yeats: A Life. The apprentice mage, 1865-1914. I. 26. 1998. 978-0-19-288085-7.
- 8.Oxford University Press. W. B. Yeats: A Life. The apprentice mage, 1865-1914. I. 98–102. 1998. 978-0-19-288085-7.
- 9.R. F. Foster. W. B. Yeats: A Life II : The Arch-Poet 1915-1939: The Arch-Poet 1915-1939. OUP Oxford. 556–. 17 March 2005. 978-0-19-158425-1.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,153 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Edward WoutermaertensArtist
- Edwin Boyd JohnsonArtist
- Edwin DeakinArtist
- Edwin DickinsonArtist
- Edwin EvansArtist
- Edwin ForbesArtist
- Edwin HarrisArtist
- Edwin HolgateArtist
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