WILLIAM BLAKEShea Ward

Devinn Schwarzman

Denis Tsurkan

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

William Blake was born November 28, 1757 and died on August 12, 1827.

Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker who was actually not really regarded until after his death.

Only venturing from London one time in his life, William Blake seemed to achieve mastering the poetry of the human existence.

Blake is considered a Romantic poet, and swore by the bible, though not the Church of England, he was influenced by both the French and American Revolutions.

Though Blake did not attend school, being educated at home by his mother, he had an affinity for the bible and it had a profound influence on the young boy, remaining a source of inspiration.

Some historians classify Blake as one of the first successors of modern anarchism, but others characterize him as a one of a kind with no real contemporaries.

“THE TYGER” William Blake’s “The Tyger” is one of the Songs of

Experience, published in 1794.

This poem explains the contrast to “The Lamb” another poem published, and brings the gloomier, savage viewpoint of Creation.

By layering these differing poems, Blake creates depth in reason and also reflects the human mind by showing that in ethical belief there is both good and bad, bliss and hard times.

Even the title is a play on words, using the primitive spelling of the dangerous jungle creature, to show the readers of the poem that it is taken back to a more archaic time, where the imagery is raw and crude.

By using the phrase: “What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Blake places his spiritual emphasis on the mind of the reader, stressing the power of whatever creator who could have molded such an insanely powerful creature.

“THE TYGER” Also, William Blake throws out words like ‘hammer’, ‘chain’, ‘furnace’, and

‘anvil’ reflecting on the Industrial Revolution of his time, and it seems that these phrases refer to a type of providential workshop. By referring to tools in the creation of such a deadly beast, Blake sends a negative connotation towards the industrialization, possibly threatening to Blake as a poet.

The creator in this poem can possibly be seen as a blacksmith, slaving over the creation of both beauty and wicked.

This poem seems to concentrate on a theme of existence of elements like mankind, love, and freedom and throws them against their also present opposites. The presence of God’s creation and the invention of forgiveness versus punishment show the major ideas of both “The Tyger” and “The Lamb”.

“The Tyger” obviously shows the vengeful side of God, and even poses the question: “Did he smile his work to see? Did he who make the Lamb make thee?” This quote could show that Blake contemplates on the question of how a God so able to make beauty and forgiveness could spur up such terror in the beast that is the tiger.

“THE LAMB” In the first stanza, the speaker

questions how the little lamb came to be. Who made his clothes? Who gave him a voice? Who is his creator?

In the second stanza, the speaker answers his own question. He tells the lamb that his creator calls himself a lamb. His creator is Christ.

The Lamb symbolizes Christ: the Little Lamb represents people, who were created in his perfect image

Blake reminds us that we have a higher power above us

LITERARY DEVICES FROM “THE TYGER” AND “THE LAMB”

"The Tyger"- Literary imagery, by appealing to the senses Blake creates more fear of the horrible creature.

Also Blake throws in repetition to drill the ideas of creation into the mind of the reader. 

In “The Lamb”, Blake uses symbolism; The lamb corresponds with the lamb in Christianity, where Christ is referred to as “the Lamb of God”.

Blake also uses personification when he addresses the lamb, questioning the lamb as if it were able to talk back.

“THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER” – SONGS OF INNOCENCE

When the speaker’s mother died, his father sent him off to be a chimney sweep and in the chimneys is where the speaker spends his life.

When one boy by the name of Tom cried because his head was shaved the speaker said, ‘Be quiet and be happy that at least your hair does not get stained’.

Every night when they sleep Tom would see the other chimney sweepers, who were covered in soot to make them seem black as night.

And in the morning they came by a man that set them free, so the children can frolic in the sun and wash their faces in the river

And while the boys play and sing, the man who saved them taught the basics of religion, but then Tom awoke and he rose back up in the chimney where he slept

And if they work, they will not get beaten

CHIMNEY SWEEPER – SONGS OF EXPERIENCE

A child is crying in the midst of winter a man asks the child where his parents are

They boy replies they are in church praying while he is in the snow

And the boy is happy in the snow, because he was taught the craft of a chimney sweep and clothed in the soot from the job perhaps forever condemning the child to be on par with the untouchable class (sarcasm).

“And because I show this façade. The world believes they have done no harm to me, so they praise the lord, the priest, and the king for all the good while I suffer.”

LITERARY DEVICES FROM “THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER”- SONGS OF

INNOCENCE The Onomatopoeia “‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!” – it refers

to the ability of the speaker to say the words sweep as a chimney cleaner would, but its also a foreshadow to the continuation of the poem in Songs of Experience where the same words would actually refer to weeping

Allusion – The whole poem is a historical reference to the unfairness of the time and age in terms of the treatment of children.  This includes the impossible conditions of workplace such as actually climbing in incredibly narrow chimneys and lack of a decent place to sleep.

LITERARY DEVICES FROM “THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER”- SONGS OF

EXPERIENCE Sarcasm in lines 5-6 “Because I was happy upon the

heath, and smil’d among the winter’s snow;” –An obvious reference to the absolutely awful working conditions.

Dramatic visualization lines 4-10 “The are both gone up to the church to pray / Because I

was happy upon the heath, / And smil’d among the winter’s snow; / They clothed me in the clothes of death, / and taught me to sing the notes of woe. / and because I am happy, and dance and sing, / They think they have done me no injury,  / And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King, / Who make up a heaven of our misery.”

The boy’s response is a descriptive paragraph of the hypocrisies of his parents and the adults who go to church and pray to god believing they have done no harm by giving the child the worst job possible.

WORKS CITED PAGE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger

http://bestword.ca/William_Blake_The_Tyger_Analysis_01.html

http://www.eliteskills.com/c/5073

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/29131/an_analysis_of_blakes_the_chimney_sweeper.html?cat=38