Billy Blake's Trial: Lila Vogt

In "Billy Blake's Trial," essayist Brian Doyle describes why he put so many years into the study of William Blake, poet and printer:

"Because he told the truth.... Because, when he knew he was going to die, he lay in his bed singing softly. ... Because, even though he claimed much of his work was dictated whole to him by angels and prophets, he edited heavily. Because he and his wife used to sit naked in their garden and recite passages from Paradise Lost. Because, when he was asked to recite his poems at parties, he got up and removed his coat and sang his lyrics aloud while dancing around the room, which is why he was subsequently not invited to parties anymore. Because he taught his wife, a grocer's daughter, to read. ... Because he bought a new pencil two days before he died. Because the very last thing he drew was his wife's face.

It is this last detail that catches my heart."