This week in our poetry news roundup we look at a rare William Blake Print that is going up for auction and the autumn 2025 Poetry Foundation Grants.
Rare Print of The Tyger by William Blake to go up for Auction
A rare print of William Blake’s poem The Tyger is going to auction with Christies at the beginning of December and is expected to bring in a price of around £120,000.
The print is from a rare first issue of Songs of Experience and dates to approximately 1794. There were just four copies made and the issue contains 17 poems by Blake all of which were illustrated, etched, and then printed by the poet himself. This is a side of the poet that is lesser known. It is his literary works, studied in school, for which he is most famous.
An expert from the auction house, Michael Macaulay, who is the head of prints for Europe, says that this is an exciting lot, which opens our eyes to how Blake really intended people to see his work. The combination of delicate script and design gives a completely different dimension to his work, and also a hint of humour. They represent. The print exemplifies the genius of Blakes as both a poet and an artist.
The auction will take place on 3rd December and this item will is the only one that is known to be in private ownership, it was once owned by Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows.
There are a further seven prints from Songs of Experience going up for auction at the same time with estimates ranging from £20,000 to £70,000 per item.
All of the works have been created using an illuminated painting style that Blake invented. He wrote his text using mirror writing and his designs were then drawn using stop-out varnish on a copper plate. The results were then etched, in relief, by immersing the plate into an acid bath. From 1794 onwards Blake no longer used the technique for issues of Songs of Experience.
$1.3 Million in Grants Announced by Poetry Foundation
An announcement from The Poetry Foundation has revealed that this year 52 non-profit poetry-based organisations will be the recipients of part of the $1,345,000 grant that they have available.
The 52 non-profits have been chosen from 137 grant applications that were received by The Poetry Foundation. These grants are being awarded as part of the fall 2025 grant cycle. In 2025 there have been more than $3 million in grants given by the foundation to support poetry and other forms of literary arts across the US.
The Poetry Foundation has been grantmaking for the last three years and has recently announced a new strategy which will update its priorities and eligibility guidelines. They also recently announced the Literary Arts Fund, which is a five-year, $50 million collaborative initiative that has been designed to help expand resources and visibility for the literary arts on a nationwide scale.
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