Saint Maud is a taut, psychological horror film from first time director, Rose Glass. It stars Morfydd Clark as the eponymous Maud, an agency nurse who is assigned to care for terminally ill patient, Amanda, a former dancer and hell-raiser played by the luminous Jennifer Ehle (who, among other things, will always be my Elizabeth Bennet). Maud is a recent religious convert and, as her fervour grows and twists into something altogether less savoury, she sets her sights on saving Amanda’s soul before she departs this world. The Blake connection comes when Amanda gifts Maud a Morton D. Paley book on Blake. She is taken by his artwork and the little that she learns of Blake’s fiercely personal take on religion, and soon his apocalyptic spiritual imagery is incorporated into Maud’s religious...

Jason Whittaker reveals how speaking with Blake on a daily basis has shaped his own attitudes to art, religion and politics. Considering how powerful Blake has been in my life, it would be tempting to say that he hasalways been there, and it would be delightful to draw upon memories of reading Blake in childhood – yet they do not really exist. I’m sure that I read – or at least heard – ‘The Tyger’, yet I had no real idea about who or what Blake was. As I moved into my teenage years, music was a pathway into Romanticism, but my Goth sensibilities were attracted much more strongly towards Byron, Shelley and Coleridge rather than Blake. He was on the periphery of my knowledge and understanding. There was one exception – a running family joke – that gradually piqued my curiosity. My...

John Riordan discovered Blake as a teenager and his exploits in illustration and cartooning have been driven by the uncompromising poet and artist ever since. My mum is too modest to take credit but I’m pretty sure that she introduced me to William Blake. I remember at some point her giving me the crucial piece of info that the Old Testament beardy figures in Blake’s artwork weren’t necessarily the good guys. The first concrete appearances of Blake in my life that I can pinpoint are the Peter Ackroyd biography (1995) and the Blur song ‘Magpie’, which (appropriately enough) filched its lyrics from ‘A Poison Tree’ from Songs of Experience. ‘Magpie’ came out in 1994 (as a b-side of ‘Girls and Boys’) but I’m not sure I twigged that the words were Blake’s until later. Still, I was definitely...

Saint Maud is a taut, psychological horror film from first time director, Rose Glass. It stars Morfydd Clark as the eponymous Maud, an agency nurse who is assigned to care for terminally ill patient, Amanda, a former dancer and hell-raiser played by the luminous Jennifer Ehle (who, among other things, will always be my Elizabeth Bennet). Maud is a recent religious convert and, as her fervour...

Jason Whittaker reveals how speaking with Blake on a daily basis has shaped his own attitudes to art, religion and politics. Considering how powerful Blake has been in my life, it would be tempting to say that he hasalways been there, and it would be delightful to draw upon memories of reading Blake in childhood – yet they do not really exist. I’m sure that I read – or at least heard – ‘The...

John Riordan discovered Blake as a teenager and his exploits in illustration and cartooning have been driven by the uncompromising poet and artist ever since. My mum is too modest to take credit but I’m pretty sure that she introduced me to William Blake. I remember at some point her giving me the crucial piece of info that the Old Testament beardy figures in Blake’s artwork weren’t necessarily...

Saint Maud is a taut, psychological horror film from first time director, Rose Glass. It stars Morfydd Clark as the eponymous Maud, an agency nurse who is assigned to care for terminally ill patient, Amanda, a former dancer and hell-raiser played...

Jason Whittaker reveals how speaking with Blake on a daily basis has shaped his own attitudes to art, religion and politics. Considering how powerful Blake has been in my life, it would be tempting to say that he hasalways been there, and it would...

John Riordan discovered Blake as a teenager and his exploits in illustration and cartooning have been driven by the uncompromising poet and artist ever since. My mum is too modest to take credit but I’m pretty sure that she introduced me to William...