One of the most popular and most characteristic poems of the eighteenth century was Edward Young's Night Thoughts, as The Complaint came to be popularly known.

Originally published in 1745 in nine parts or "Nights," the poem was a supreme example of Gothic melancholia.

Although several illustrated editions of the poem had already appeared, the London publisher Richard Edwards commissioned Blake in 1795 to execute a series of illustrations and decorations for a new edition of Night Thoughts. For this work Blake created 537 water-color designs and selected 43 of these to be engraved on copper. The first installment of Blake's edition appeared in 1797, containing the text of only the first four "Nights." The intended last three parts were never published.