Mingling Awe and Innocence
The well-known author and artist, William Blake, developed works during the Romantic Age. He had a very unique childhood, filled with surreal experiences. At the age of ten Blake claimed to have his first vision, when he saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree of angels. Later in life he saw a spirit ascend into the ceiling after his brother passed away from tuberculosis. As a result, The Bible and God were tremendous inspirations in his artwork and poetry. He published a collections of poems in 1789 called Songs of Innocence and Experience. In this compilation, Blake’s faith and heavenly ideals are revealed as he ponders innocence and power. While these divine concepts are continuously mentioned throughout Songs of Innocence and Experience, two poems in specific that explore awe in the presence of God are, “The Tyger” and “The Lamb.”
“The Lamb” is a short poem that focuses on innocence as a young boy observes a lamb. He begins to question the lamb, asking if he knows his creator. “Little lamb, who made thee?” (1). Then the boys states all the parts of the lamb’s life that the creator gave him, like: his food, surroundings, and
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Similar to “The Lamb,” Blake begins by questioning “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (3-4). These lines suggest that the tyger was created in an otherworldly place like heaven or hell. Blake states that the tyger has fire in his eyes, displaying his supernatural might. The fire symbolizes God’s power and ability to create. In this case, is the tyger a threat to God, since he possesses some of His fire? Blake continues by implying that the creator of the Tyger is mighty and compares his work to that of a blacksmith. Blacksmiths dangerously create objects with a fiery furnace. Similarly, it was dangerous for God to create such a powerful creature with a supernatural fire in his eyes (“The Tyger
Blake’s house, and she refuses to leave. Mrs. Blake quotes Latimer, “‘Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall see this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out’” (Fahrenheit 451, 33). Undoubtedly, this quote sparked the reexamination of how Montag looked at the fire. Fire, now captured the symbol of life, knowledge and strength through the candle. The symbol of fire continues to grow and develop, like Montag in the story. Eventually he reaches the outskirts of town and finds the flickering flames of the fire to almost be like “winking eyes” (Fahrenheit 451, 139). The fire has gone from a destructive device, used only to burn books, and had transformed into something that now has a life. When Montag says, “winking eyes,” it shows how the symbol of fire now has a life. The fire was now giving something back to him, providing him with the heat to keep him warm, instead of the destructive behavior he had only known it to
By positioning his first proclamation in parallel with Isaiah 34 and 35, Blake invites, or rather, forces dialogue between Isaiah and himself, and claims for himself Isaiah’s prophetic authority. Later, he dines with both Isaiah and Ezekiel in a symbolic gesture of equality and solidarity and discusses with them as one prophet to another the challenges that one faces in such a line of work (plate 12). Blake again establishes the bond between prophets and the fires of Hell by telling of an angel who, having been converted by a devil, embraces the fire and, consumed by it, arises as the prophet Elijah (plate 24). Thus allegiance to Hell, Bake claims, makes one a prophet.
This poem was in his collection entitled, Songs of Innocence. ""today his most popular volume, he revealed glimpses of life as it appears to innocent childhood, full of charm and joy, and trust"(William Blake Dark 77 or 79 blu)." This is what Blake adapted as his style; his poems were simple, direct, and clear enough for a child to understand. One of Blake's other more popular poems is, "The Lamb." This poem like many others is written in his idiosyncratic view of Christianity, th...
The first literary reference is the title of Chapter 5, which is called “Fearful Symmetry” which comes from the William Blake’s poem “The Tyger”. The poem itself is not cited until the end of the chapter, but not the whole poem, so in order for the reader to understand the importance of the reference, one must read the poem, and understand the interpretation behind it. The last two stanzas of poem are most important to understanding the meaning: “…When the stars threw down their spears/And watered heaven with their tears/Did he smile his work to see/Did he who made the Lamb make thee/ Tyger! Tyger! burning ...
Blake’s poetry focuses on imagination. When Blake created his work, it gained very little attention. Blake’s artistic and poetic vision is reflected in his creations. Blake was against the Church of England because he thought the doctrines were being misused as a form of social control, it meant the people were taught to be passively obedient and accept oppression, poverty, and inequality. In Blake’s poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell, he shows that good requires evil in order to exist through imagery of animals and man.
The Romantic Era brought the time of William Blake, when his talent of artistry emerged with many unusual Renaissance of talents.William Blake was on 28 November, 1757 in London, Europe. He was an extraordinary child out of rest of his six siblings, in which two of them died in his early childhood. Starting from his early childhood, William Blake talked about having strange visions such as at the age of four he saw god putting his head to the window and around the age of nine, when he was walking through the landscape area; he saw a huge tree that
In conclusion these two poems by William Blake are both deep and have hidden meanings, they both use imagery, repetition, alliteration and ryming couplets as well as biblical references to create a vivid pictures in the readers head. But these poems do differ in many ways such as the structure, theme and way it is written. The Tyger appeals to me most as it has more hidden meanings than the Lamb and the Lamb is boring and as if written by a child (for effect). In this essay I have analysed, contrasted and compared the two poems The Tyger and The Lamb to the best of my ability detailing the poetic devices used and the underlying meanings.
Abstract: William Blake's Songs of Innocence contains a group of poetic works that the artist conceptualized as entering into a dialogue with each other and with the works in his companion work, Songs of Experience. He also saw each of the poems in Innocence as operating as part of an artistic whole creation that was encompassed by the poems and images on the plates he used to print these works. While Blake exercised a fanatical degree of control over his publications during his lifetime, after his death his poems became popular and were encountered without the contextual material that he intended to accompany them.
His spiritual beliefs reached outside the boundaries of religious elites loyal to the monarchy. “He was inspired by dissident religious ideas rooted in the thinking of the most radical opponents of the monarchy during the English Civil War” (E. P. Thompson). Concern with war and the blighting effects of the industrial revolution were displayed in much of his work. One of Blake’s most famous works is The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience. In this collection, Blake illuminates the naive hopes and fears that inform the lives of children and follow them into adulthood.... ...
William Blake’s 1793 poem “The Tyger” has many interpretations, but its main purpose is to question God as a creator. Its poetic techniques generate a vivid picture that encourages the reader to see the Tyger as a horrifying and terrible being. The speaker addresses the question of whether or not the same God who made the lamb, a gentle creature, could have also formed the Tyger and all its darkness. This issue is addressed through many poetic devices including rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism, all of which show up throughout the poem and are combined to create a strong image of the Tyger and a less than thorough interpretation of its maker.
William Blake was born and raised in London from 1757 to 1827. Throughout his early years, Blake experienced many strange and unusual visions, claiming to have seen “angels and ghostly monks” (Moore). For those reasons, William Blake decided to write about mystical beings and Gods. Two examples of the poet expressing his point of view are seen in “The Tyger” and “The Lamb.” Both poems demonstrate how the world is and to sharpen one’s perception. People perceive the world in their own outlook, often times judging things before they even know the deeper meaning of its inner personification. Blake’s wondrous questions actually make an acceptable point because he questions whether God created the tiger with the same intentions as he did with the lamb.
In William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” the speaker begins with the ultimate question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?/ Dost though know who made thee?/” (Blake lines 1-2). The speaker then continues to elaborate on the question in a playful, innocent, singsong manner describing the kindness and thoughtfulness that the creator put in to producing this ever so gentle lamb. The tone of this poem is soft and lulling, the tender, calm rhyme scheme puts the reader in a soothing, dreamlike state. “The words and images presented - stream, mead, delight, softest, tender and rejoice - are positive and pastoral. One can picture a lamb frolicking in the green grass…” (Smith).
In his work, Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, William Blake uses the aforementioned contrasting states of being to illustrate his unique view of the world around him. Through this work, Blake lays bare his soulful views of religion and ethics, daring the reader to continue on in their narcissistic attitudes and self-serving politics. While Blake's work had countless themes, some of the most prevalent were religious reform, social change, and morality. Philosophically, one would think that William Blake was a Deist; however Blake rejected the Deist view of life. He was a devout Christian, yet he also wanted nothing to do with the church or their teachings. These views give Blake a refreshingly sincere quality with regards to his art and writings. Blake frequently alluded to Biblical teachings in his work and, more often than not, used corresponding story lines to rail against the Church's views and accepted practices. One may say however, that Blake's universal appeal lies within his social commentary. Similar to a fable, Blake weaves a poetically mystical journey for the reader, usually culminating in a moral lesson. One such poem, "A Poison Tree," clearly illustrates some of William Blake's moral beliefs. With his use of imagery, as well as an instinctive knowledge of human nature, William Blake shows just how one goes from the light to the darkness (from innocence to experience) by the repression of emotions.
There are often two sides to everything: chocolate and vanilla, water and fire, woman and man, innocence and experience. The presence of two opposing items allows for harmony and balance in the world. Without water, fire cannot be put out and without woman there can be no man. William Blake’s poetry collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience draws parallels between poems of “innocence” and poems of “experience”. His poem The Lamb is mirrored by his poem The Tyger.
William Blake, a romantic poet in the late 1700s, wrote a collection of biblical poems, called The Songs of Innocence and Experience. In this collection, Blake wrote a six-stanza poem consisting almost entirely of questions, titled “The Tyger”. Blake addresses this “Tyger” throughout the entire poem, beginning by asking who or what immortal creature made the Tyger. Blake then describes the Tyger as a fearsome and evil creature and tries to understand how the person who made the Tyger could have continued the process once it’s horrible “heart began to beat” (Blake 11). He compares the creator of the animal to a blacksmith, asking if the creator used an anvil and hammer to create the creature or other tools. Towards the end of the poem, Blake