Creating Blakes Tyger Essay - 3597 Words

Creating Blake’s â€Å"Tyger† The Eighteenth-century British Romantic, William Blake, was an accomplished painter, engraver, and illustrator during his lifetime, but is best remembered for his poetry. Though Blake’s genius was generally dismissed by the public of his own era and he died with little acclaim, he has since been regarded as one of the greatest figures of the Romantic Movement. Whether with paint or pen, Blake is renowned for his ability to create works of art which, over the years, have succeeded in both amazing and perplexing his audience. â€Å"The Tyger,† from his 1794 â€Å"Songs of Experience† collection, is one such poem whose elusive meaning is widely debated. The work becomes problematic for readers since, when†¦show more content†¦While other â€Å"immortals† are created in literature, these two options seem most logical to address first. While this initial step, recognizing the dual meaning of â€Å"immortal,† seems fairly obvious, it is ofte n overlooked. When it is called into question, however, the mention of the creator as one who is immortal sparks theories that have been debated for as long as critics have been struggling to break down Blake’s complex work. Burton Raffel, a professional translator and English professor was challenged with the onerous task of rewriting the poem in French. He points out in his 2002 article, published in the Literary Review journal, that many people, at first glance, misinterpret the possibilities for the meaning of the word, â€Å"immortal,† by failing to recognize the inherent duality. Raffel asserts initially that, â€Å"The word ‘immortal’ assures us, if nothing else does, that God is the undeniable power of whom Blake speaks,† but upon further analysis, Raffel refutes his own argument by asking, â€Å"Why then does [Blake] put the matter interrogatively? Is it because he wishes to shed doubt on Gods powers? Or to advocate some other ‘i mmortal’ presence as the true power behind creation?† (632). It is the latter sentence that speaks to the actual nature of the poem; Blake provides evidence that should not so quickly be disregarded as to whom the passage may refer. By presenting the reader with â€Å"immortal† as the first criterion for the tyger’s creator, BlakeShow MoreRelatedThe Contrasting World Views in William Blake’s â€Å"the Lamb† and â€Å"the Tyger†941 Words   |  4 PagesThe Contrasting World Views in William Blake’s â€Å"The Lamb† and â€Å"The Tyger† A person’s view of the world is very situational, depending on their life experiences and their religious beliefs. William Blake examines two different world views in the poems â€Å"The Lamb,† and â€Å"The Tyger.† These poems were written as a pairing which were shown in Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience respectively. 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These two poems demonstrate exactly Blake’s views on the ills of society, mainly referring to the industrial revolution and the impacts and consequences it brought. ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ are both poems written inRead MorePoetry Analysis: The Tyger Essay925 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Blake’s 1793 poem â€Å"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