Following A close study of Tyger Tyger by William Blake and Hawk

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Following A close study of Tyger Tyger by William Blake and Hawk

Roosting by Ted Hughes, discuss the poets' attitudes towards the

animals in the poem.

I am following a close study of the poems "Tyger Tyger" by William

Blake and "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes. "Tyger Tyger" is about an

evil fearful tyger and was written in the 18th century during the

industrial revolution and this is shown in the text as it is written

in old-fashioned language. The second poem I am studying is "Hawk

Roosting" which is about a hawk in a forest and was written during the

1950's.

The first poem I am going to study is "Tyger Tyger" by William Blake.

From the first line of the first stanza " Tyger! Tyger! Burning

bright" the alliteration gives the poem a child like feel. Also, the

exclamation marks show that the poet is addressing the Tyger and that

he feels admiration towards the Tyger. The second line "In the forests

of the night" also makes the poem sound child like, but there is

contrast in the colour of the "burning bright" and the "night". By

doing this the poet is showing how he feels the tyger possesses both

the energy and destructive force of fire. It is also already hinting

toward the tygers darker side. The third line "What immortal hand or

eye could frame thy fearful symmetry" the poet is talking to the tyger

and asking the tyger a rhetorical question and also describing the

tygers body, he is also referring to the "God" that made the tyger.

In the poem "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes you instantly get an idea of

the hawks arrogance. The first line of the first stanza "I sit in the

top of the wood, my eyes closed" indicates to the reader how the hawk

feels he is so superior. It also shows that the poet feels he i...

... middle of paper ...

...anguage to put images of

power and strength in to the readers mind. Firstly, Ted Hughes has

added colons and dashes after certain sentences. For example on the

fourth stanza "There is no sophistry in my body: My manners are

tearing off heads-" Ted Hughes has added the colon and dash as it

becomes part of the meter and the pause gives the reader time to think

about the hawk, it is also when the hawk pauses and he is doing this

as he wants to shock the reader. Throughout the whole "Tyger Tyger"

poem William Blake has used certain words and phrases, as he wants to

shock the reader and get over to the reader about just how awful and

scary the tyger is. An example of this is on fourth stanza where he

associates the tyger with tools of hard labour and makes you think of

violence and fire and heat "What the hammer? What the chain? In what

furnace was thy brain?"

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