An etching titled "Death's Door." The image is divided into two vertical sections. At the bottom, an elderly, bearded man with a staff and flowing robes hunches forward as he enters a stone tomb through a heavy wooden door. Above the tomb, a muscular, youthful nude man sits atop the stone structure, looking upward toward a radiant light or sunburst, symbolizing the resurrection or the soul's release from the body.

Drawn by William Blake

Etched by Luigi Schiavonetti

Death's Door

It is only a night, a long and moonless night,

We make the grave our bed, and then are gone!

original: "'Tis but a Night, a long and moonless Night, / We make the Grave our Bed, and then are gone!" These lines are taken from the final stanza of Blair’s poem. They characterize death as a temporary period of rest rather than a permanent end.

London, Published May 1, 1808, by Cadell & Davies, Strand.

William Blake's design portrays the duality of human existence. At the base of the image, an elderly man leans on a staff as he enters a dark stone tomb. This represents the exhaustion of the physical body. Above the tomb, a youthful figure sits in a burst of light. This symbolizes the resurrected soul rising to eternal life.