William Blake - The Lamb
William Blake's "The Lamb" is an attempt to bring up life's ultimate
questions through the voice of child-like speaker. The poem is
structured with the question as the first stanza and the answer as the
second stanza. Blake initially introduces a naive child asking simple
questions but later dives into deep philosophical theories regarding
life and creation as the child in turn tries to answer those exact
questions. "The Lamb" in trying to convey the answers to certain
philosophical questions exhibits basic Christian creedal statements
and relays certain images concerning Jesus and also tries to explain
His relation to common man.
The opening line of the poem embodies every human's curiosities
surrounding creation and the origins of human existence. The speaker
naively questions the lamb regarding its nature and also its creation.
The speaker is representing a child and childish inquiries, yet is
addressing the notions of our existence that every person questions at
one point or another, be it a child or an adult. The childish inquires
carry on as the speaker mentions if the lamb knows who "Gave thee
clothing of delight [and] Gave thee such a tender voice." The poem is
enveloped in a sea of naivety as well as humor as the speaker is
directly speaking with an animal seeking profound philosophical
clarification concerning similar questions that all humans have
contemplated at one point in their life and have been unable to
answer. The child's question: "Who made thee," is a relatively simple
question, yet evokes a complicated and complex train of thought that
will ultimately fail to provide to convincing explanation.
As the reader continues on past the first stanza, the reader...
... middle of paper ...
...e second stanza.
William Blake's main focus of "The Lamb" is to convey the basic
assertions taken by Christianity. The child is rhetorically
questioning the lamb on his beliefs concerning creation. Ironically
the child does not desire a response but merely desires to explain his
beliefs that have been influenced by the Christian religion, which
emphasizes Jesus' divinity yet also his connection to mankind. The
traditional image of Jesus as a lamb underscores the Christian values
of gentleness, meekness, and peace. The Lamb is slowly transformed as
a symbol of man to a symbol of Jesus Himself in order to show His
divinity but also to show His link to common man. "The Lamb" can be
initially characterized as list of childish inquiries, but shifts in
order to convey the notions of Christian philosophy to explain
mankind's ultimate question: "Who made thee."
There was a scroll that needed to be opened but there was none found that could open it. The only one worthy of opening the scroll was a lamb that had been sacrificed for the Lord.
Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional novel “Cat’s Cradle”, indirectly explores issues that parallels into topics such as religion, scientific/technological advancements, political power and much more. Vonnegut’s novel is narrated by a character named Jonah (John). He, Jonah, sets out to write an anthropological book based off of what key people were doing on the day that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Throughout Vonnegut’s novel it can clearly represents how a writer can become a very destructive person to society. As for this novel, it shows through the uses of parallels that a writer can become a very destructive person to society, these parallels are reflects to real world issues throughout his novel to show this claim, that a writer too can be a destructive person to society.
...e symbol of the male tradition as pastors and the symbol of women giving the Eucharist. It is the symbol of Lutheranism in the middle of a conservative and liberal world.
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.
In Sonny’s Blues, James Baldwin makes biblical themes a crucial part in this short story by comparing biblical themes to scenes from the story. There were many ways that biblical themes were present in Sonny’s Blues as James Baldwin made references from the bible such as the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, the story of “The Probable Son” and the book of Isaiah, which talks about the Cup of Trembling. His comparisons are supported by James Tackach’s The Biblical Foundation of James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”. Baldwin’s message about redemption is that anyone who has sinned or hasn’t lived up to their promises can still be redeemed. All of the references mentioned to support the biblical themes all tie up to redemption.
The Lord is wearing to Christian symbols. The first symbol is his headwear. Mary Elizabeth Podles expounds that the deity’s tiara is similar to the pope, which represents the trinity (54). The trinity is the Christian expression that God is made up of the Father (God), Son (Jesus), and Spirit (Holy Spirt), and all three figures are connected to one another. This is shown in the headwear, which is made up of three layers.
Blake's Jerusalem and Political Correctness Blake's, Jerusalem is commonly associated with the National Anthem, Rule Britannia, and I vow to thee my country. However this association is misplaced. Although Jerusalem is often played at national sporting events for example major cricket tournaments and rugby matches as a symbol of national pride, the lyrics do not in fact totally focus on pride in England or the greatness of our country. At a glance Jerusalem gives off the impression that it is in fact aggressively nationalistic, for example, 'Walk upon England's mountains green' This line appears to be promoting England's land and therefore would be considered politically incorrect.
Blake was raised in a state of not quite poverty, but he saw what life
Continuing with the thread of human development, we see the creature's acquisition of language. The creature most craves this sort of knowledge:...
Why did William Blake decide to illustrate his own poems? In 1789, he published Songs of Innocence, and in 1794, he published its partner Songs of Experience. While it is not unusual for authors to publish their poems, Blake’s sets are different because he not only wrote the poems but illustrated and printed them himself. Blake could have done this because he could. He had experience and skills as a printer, but because he created the illustrations himself, it is possible to use them to find a deeper meaning for each poem (Lynch). This could have possibly been his intention. Using this, one can find more meanings for his pieces even when the illustrations do not necessarily compare with their poem.
The ideas that are presented in poems are often the same ideas everyone is thinking but are too afraid to speak their mind for fear that they might be judged. Allen Ginsberg explained this predicament when he said “[p]oetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private” (Ginsberg). This quote applies especially to “The Tyger” by William Blake. William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” at the surface is very simplistic; however, with further analysis the story’s theme of religion asks fundamental questions that pertain to one’s worldview with the use of symbolism.
What it is a symbol? A symbol is most understandably defined by The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy as “something that represents or suggests something else… often takes the form of words, visual images, or gestures that are used to convey ideas and beliefs”. This definition is pretty self explanatory, it not only emphasizes the functional purpose of a symbol, that of being solely representative of something else, but also suggests that a symbol is not complete in itself - it makes a comparison by pointing to something else. Symbols are metaphors; they help us to better understand those things that humans can quite put into words, in doing this they serve as life guides, as they help us to express and shape world views (Christ 139).
Religious symbols are aspects of all different religions that strengthen faith, promote certain beliefs, and represent the fundamentals of that specific religion. According to Furst’s article on the use of physical religious symbols, “As beings that are both body and spirit, humans use symbols in order to perceive and to grasp realities that are not empirical. As social beings, humans use symbols to communicate with others,” (p 2). But, there are many issues that arise when these symbols are involved and existing in the media, the state, our government, and the public. Mainly this is because symbols are truly powerful and represent controversies that come along with different religions. Furst also states that, “symbols play a powerful role in the transmission of the culture of human society,” (p 2). If religious symbols transmit culture into society, then people in our society are going to pay very close attention to what symbols are present...
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.
There is a circle in the center of the symbol, which represents the circle of life.