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An essay on the tyger poem
An essay on the tyger poem
Figurative language in a literary work
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By using syntax, diction, figurative language, imagery and a curious tone, “The Tyger”, by William Blake reveals that the more mysterious something is, the scarier it can be to us. All of these literary devices control the feeling of the theme and help set up this unique poem to make it feel unknown. Syntax is what provides the confusion in the story. The author asks a lot of questions and includes multiple uses of commas and question marks. A prime example of this is when the author asks, “What the hammer? What the chain, In what furnace was thy brain?”. Blake includes 2 questions, a comma, and uses the word “thy”. This odd sense of writing and word organization adds a sense of confusion to the already misleading story. Another thing the
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Compare and contrast the poems The Tyger and The Donkey and discuss which poet gives us the clearest depiction of humanity. William Blake is a wealthy, upper-class writer who separates himself from the rest of the wealthy community. Blake has a hate for the techniques used by many of the wealthy, company owners who gain and capitalise through cheap and expendable labour, supplied by the ever-growing poverty in the country. Blake makes a point to try and reveal this industrial savagery through his work. "The Tyger" is presented as a metaphorical approach to the struggle between the rich and the poor; good and evil.
It is in lines 10 – 24 that the poem becomes one of hope. For when Blake writes “As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins and set them all free;” Blake’s words ring true of hope for the sw...
Both of the questions being asked by Blake in each stanza are congruent with the five worldview questions. The five worldview questions are as follows: Who is God?, Who am I?, What’s the problem?, What’s the solution?, and Where are we going?. Furthermore, throughout the entire poem, each stanza asks a worldview question. So when Blake asks certain questions about the Tiger such as “What the hand, dare seize the fire?” (Blake 1) he is actually asking the reader; moreover, each question questions the reader’s thinking of religion. This consequently ties in with the major theme of the poem which is
William Blake is remembered by his poetry, engravements, printmaking, and paintings. He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain on November 28, 1757. William was the third of seven siblings, which two of them died from infancy. As a kid he didn’t attend school, instead he was homeschooled by his mother. His mother thought him to read and write. As a little boy he was always different. Most kids of his age were going to school, hanging out with friends, or just simply playing. While William was getting visions of unusual things. At the age of four he had a vision of god and when he was nine he had another vision of angles on trees.
William Blake was first and foremost an imaginative genius. He worked as both a painter and an author who beautifully illustrated not only his own works but also illustrated others writings. His artistic skill is unrivalled for diversity as he created each copy of his books with slight differences, mainly in colour and tones. He illustrates his opinions on innocence and experience through numerous poems in his work ‘Songs of innocence and experience’ and numerous other books. Much of his work deals with the concept of both innocence and experience through religion and contrary statements.
...gle and simple interpretation of the poem makes it a responsive target for repeated critical thinking, interpretation, and re-reading. “The Tyger” is an approachable but uncatchable piece of art.
The speaker seems as if he is trying to escape this horrendous beast, the reader can almost feel the panic and terror that the speaker seems to be going through. “Blake creates this effect by drawing on several poetic devices”(Furr).
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.
The sublime is the feeling of delightful horror associated with powerful, large objects that produce both a feeling of awe and fear. Blake alludes to the “fearful symmetry” (4) of the Tyger in order to create the sublime feeling that the creature is both daunting but exquisite. The sublime quality develops further when Blake asks “What dread hand? & what dread feet?” (12). Implementing the word “dread” adds to the frightening tone of the poem, creating a sense of wonder and mystery that derives from the sublime. Blake uses the sublime notion to allow the readers to process the enormity of both the Tyger and its creator, helping develop the poet’s main question; what “immortal hand or eye” (3) could be so powerful to create a formidable creature like the Tyger? The poem “The Tyger” is complexified by the unusual spelling Blake chose for the word “tiger”. The purpose of the alternative spelling is to enhance the complexity of divine creation, Blake’s main concern throughout the poem. The spelling of “Tyger” is also employed to suggest to the reader that the Tyger discussed in the poem is a different, darker beast than the jungle tiger. Humanity, the devil, or sinful actions themselves could all be argued as the “Tyger” Blake refers to. Blake himself does not explain why he misspelled the word, adding to the unanswered questions, which the entire poem consists of,
...both poems include a deep, indirect portrayal of Rousseau’s noble savage myth. Also, both poems include a variety of romantic ideals. Because of Blake’s support of Rousseau’s noble savage, his poetry is somewhat anti-Enlightenment, a characteristic of Romanticism. Another Romantic ideal was the beauty of the natural world, which opposed the Enlightened thinkers of the Industrial Revolution. Finally Blake’s usage of a child, who is speaking to animals that are unable to respond, demonstrates the Romantic belief in the “importance of feelings and imagination over reason” (Romanticism 699).
Children are always portrayed in books as angelic beings that are the closest to being perfect since they are innocent and pure. Many would suggest that this is not true, that children can be just as finable as adults. They cry when they do not get their way and throw tantrums that are quite obscene. However, the idea of this angelic child did not come into play until the 18th century. The poets William Blake and William Wordsworth are the two poets that coined this idea of the child. In the poems of these two authors, children are portrayed as innocent and pure beings and are closer to God than adults. Although these two poets have very different views of what children are like such as their interactions with adults, their perspective on
living we enjoy in the United States is a result of the fact that we,
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.
Blake uses different types of figurative language, so that he is able to use a simple rhyme