Tyger by William Blake

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Poetry is greatly influenced by issues like evil, pain, and human suffering that do not have a literal answer for why they occur. They are often pinpointed by writers as they find its origin or lay the blame through a wide range of poetic devices that cause the reader to question their own beliefs and morals. In the poem ‘Tyger’, William Blake tries to divulge the creation of adversity by asking a series of blatant questions “What immortal hand or eye… frame thy fearful symmetry?” In addition to this, the origin of suffering is again interrogated by William Blake in his poem ‘Poison Tree’, as he explores how unaddressed, cultivated “wrath” can lead to destructive behavior which results in both personal and others misfortune. Both ‘Sonnet 116’ and ‘Valentine’ written by William Shakespeare and Carol Ann Duffy express the side of heartbreak and love that is not often focused upon. These poems incorporate strong feelings about the definition of true love, explaining how love is an “ever fixed mark” and not a “red rose”. The poem ‘War Photographer’, by Carol Ann Duffy, portrays emotional personal suffering as well as comparing it to the ignorance of others as “Sunday’s supplement”. ‘Children in the Darkness’ is a poem, written by Henry M. Bechtold that directly addresses human suffering and what can be done to change the suffering people face every day.
William Blake and his poem “The Tyger,” questions human suffering and its creation. Blake uses a tiger as an extended metaphor, which takes on the role of a symbolic character and embodies the spiritual and moral problem that evolves to become the symbolic centre for an investigation about the origin and presence of evil and suffering in the world. The tiger is a dreadful creature w...

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... all chances of hope have been destroyed by war.

The poets of the discussed poems are each greatly influenced by suffering. They have each outlined either the cause or result of suffering, and drawn their conclusion from one of their own belief or morals. For example; ‘Valentine’ and ‘Sonnet 116’ are greatly related, due to their authors morals that have been attributed to the poems. ‘The Tyger’ is influenced largely from William Blake’s beliefs in origin. ‘War Photographer’ is an example of a poem that has contributed the result of suffering and ‘Poison Tree’ has outlined the cause of suffering. This has occurred through a wide range of poetic devices that made the reader to question their own beliefs or morals. Suffering is an often deeply discussed topic, which is continued to be used in literature in many ways today.

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