The Romantic period - William Blake introduction + tyger

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

William Blake introduction + The Tyger

How well did you see the apple in your mind's eye? 0 = not at all, 10 = photo realistically.

010

assignment

Write down facts about Blake while you watch the documentary. 

Use key words. 

Write down 3 facts about Blake

• Poet and artist (trained as an artist). 
• He illustrated his books himself.
  
• Happy, but childless marriage
  
• Radical political ideas + hyperphantasia 
• Pronounced failure during life
  
• Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
  
• The Lamb and The Tyger
  
• Two poems titled The Chimney Sweeper.
  

William Blake

Illusion:

dreamworld - escape from reality - optimistic outlook on life

Disillusion:

bitterness - distrust - accusation - awareness of circumstances - sarcasm

www.litcharts.com

www.litcharts.com

• By detailing the tiger’s fearsomeness and by directly comparing it to the innocent and gentle lamb, the poem hints that perhaps both creatures are necessary parts of God’s creation. 
• Perhaps without fear and danger, there could be no love and joy.

Next: 

• answer the questions in this LessonUp

Which of the following statements best summarizes how Blake describes the tiger?

1. Blake depicts the tiger as a fearsome, dangerous animal that should be avoided.
2. Blake describes the tiger in terms of its light and dark elements.
3. Blake depicts the tiger as an awe-inspiring creature made artfully with powerful elements.
4. Blake describes the tiger as a peaceful part of nature that is unchallenged by its own origins.

How does the line “Did He who make the Lamb make thee?” contribute to the the development of the poem?

1. It implies that the tiger is actually a gentle creature like the lamb’s namesake, Jesus Christ.
2. It implies that God is cruel for making a dangerous tiger that can tear an innocent lamb to pieces.
3. It questions the judgment of a creator that would create such vastly different animals with such different components.
4. It reveals the creator’s incomprehensible motivation to create both a powerful creature like the tiger and a weak creature like the lamb.

Which of the following statements best describes the author’s purpose in this poem?

1. The author aims to explore the question of existence and how things came to be as they are.
2. The author aims to talk about biology and evolution by posing questions in a spiritual way.
3. The author aims to reveal a gap in human knowledge regarding where life came from.
4. The author aims to prove that only a higher power could create such a magnificent creature as the tiger.

Which characteristics of Romantic poetry can you find in this poem?

What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Who do the immortal hand and eye belong to?

1. The Universe
2. The Christian God
3. Greek god/goddess
4. Mother Earth

What poetic devices can you find in the lines: What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

1. simile, onomatopoeia, alliteration
2. alliteration, metaphor, enjambment
3. enjambment, onomatopoeia, metaphor
4. metaphor, simile, alliteration

Did He who made the lamb make thee?------ Who does the lamb refer to?

1. Jesus
2. A lamb is a lamb is a lamb
3. An innocent human being
4. A harmless human being

1. Blake intentionally gave the poem a title with an old-fashioned spelling. In his time it was already 'tiger'. What is the intention of the archaism? 

• 1 Archaic language was commonly used in a religious context in Blake’s time. It is the language and the spelling of the King James Bible of 1611. By using that old-fashioned spelling Blake creates a trusted, religious atmosphere. The title includes a reference to religion.

2a. In what form are the six stanzas written? 

• quatrains (stanzas of 4 lines each)

2b. What is the rhyme scheme? 

• rhymed couplets (aabb)

2c. What is the metre in the poem? 

• every line has a number of metrical feet, composed of 2 syllables. In most of the lines the first syllable is emphasised and the second is not (trochee)
  

3 a. What is the central imagery in the poem? In other words, how is God presented to us? 

• God is represented as a smith in a smithy

3b. In what respect does the metre have a higly supportive function in this imagery? 

• The regular metre of the trochee makes us think of the hammer blows in the smithy
• The iambs in "and when thy heart began to beat" make us feel the tiger's heartbeat. 

4. The poem is composed of a large number of unanswered questions. What are these questions called?

5. To whom are all the questions directed?

6a. What contradiction do you see in the first two lines of stanza 1?

• burning bright (refers to the clear colours of the tiger) contrasting with the forests of the night (hostile, unknown).

6b. What is the answer to the question in stanza 1? 

• God.  'immortal'.

6c. What is meant by the 'fearful symmetry'?

• c. The tiger's stripes OR the tiger looks equally frightening on both sides (left and right).

7. Summarize the second stanza in a few words. 

• Where does the fire / glow in the eyes of the tiger come from? As if someone has given the fire to the tiger. Compare the story of Prometheus who stole the fire from the gods.

8a. Who is meant with 'thy' in the third stanza? 

• the tiger
  

8b .WHat process does Blake show us in the third stanza?

•  He shows that God is literally making the tiger.

9a. Which words in stanza 3 show the setting is a smithy?

• hammer, furnace, anvil.
  

9b. What figure of speach do see in the last two lines of stanza 3?

• alliteration (dread – dare – deadly). In other stanzas too.
  

10a. What imagery is used in the first two lines of the penultimate stanza?

• line 1 of stanza 5: it became light (spears of light) line 2: rain Together: the beginning of creation

10b. What is the thought process behind this stanza?

•  Was God truly happy with what he had made, had created? Was that the intention?

 

11. Compare the first and last stanza. What is the difference?

•  ‘Could’ in stanza 1 and ‘Dare’ in the last stanza. Dare is far more powerful than Could

 

BYE!