Concepts and Beliefs Romanticism. Guiding Questions How did political events in America and France in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
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Slide 1
Concepts and Beliefs Romanticism
Slide 2
Guiding Questions How did political events in America and
France in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries affect
English Society? How did the industrialization of England
revolutionize the ways in which people lived and worked? What
political and economic theories developed in response to the
changes brought about by Englands rapid industrialization? What new
values and responses to change did the Romantic poets offer?
Slide 3
Social and Political Milestones The American Revolution
(1776-1783) The French Revolution and the Era of Napoleon
(1789-1815) The Industrial Revolution in England Quick Write: What
do you know about these events?
Slide 4
7 Critical Elements Started being used to describe specific
pieces in 18th century Originally referred to characteristics of
romance Opposed to classics Early 19th century the official
Romantic period was established A fundamental component of
Romanticism is the belief that man is inherently good People have a
good sense of moral judgment Man can be swayed/molded towards
perfection Gothic romance- love, death, supernatural
Slide 5
The Early Romantics The Romantic Period (17981832) was a time
marked by turmoil in Europe. King George III lost control of the
American colonies. The gap between the rich and the poor widened
dramatically. The French Revolution inspired fear and resentment
between the classes. With the decline of agriculture, the cities
were overpopulated and the living conditions were dismal. As a
result, there was an escalating focus on making money and
protesting injustice. It was a time of high anxiety and great
change. The writers of this period are called Romantic not because
they focus on romantic love, but because they are idealists.
Romantic writers use their work as relief from the worlds troubles,
often focusing on the joy and beauty of nature, the power of human
feeling, and the escapism of the fantastic and the supernatural.
Romantic writers emphasize liberty and equality, and they
frequently harken back to the good old days when life was simpler
and more peaceful. Some of the writers even use the language of
years or decades earlier to create a sense of the past. Because
some of this antiquated language may be more difficult to read,
take your time and pay close attention to the notations in the
margins of your textbook. They will help you understand the
unfamiliar phrasing. The first generation of Romantic poets
(17981805): Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge.
Slide 6
The Beginning During the spring of 1798, two young English
poets sold some of their poems to raise money for a trip to
Germany. Each had published books of poetry, but their new joint
work was to be anonymous. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the younger
of the pair, told the printer: Wordsworths name is nothingmine
stinks. Soon after they left England, their book, Lyrical Ballads,
with a Few Other Poems, appeared. Among the few other poems was
Coleridges long narrative The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (see page
765) and a last-minute addition, Wordsworths Lines Composed a Few
Miles Above Tintern Abbey (see page 736). Both of these works are
now among the most important poems in English literature.
Slide 7
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth revolutionized the poetry
of his time. Unlike his predecessors, who focus on wit and reason,
Wordsworth embodies the Romantic ideal. His poems are designed to
evoke feeling, sometimes tranquil and serene, sometimes forceful.
They touch on human truths and reveal the connections between us
all. Wordsworths poems often depict scenes of the countryside and a
simple life, and he praises the glory and the magnitude of nature.
Wordsworth also writes with more accessible language, believing
that language, too, should be natural, rather than artificial and
ornate.
Slide 8
Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey As you read
Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, notice the sound
imagery, such as the rolling waters and the rustling of the leaves
that soothe the speaker when hes surrounded by the din of the city.
Notice, too, the personification of the trees and the simile that
compares the speaker to a young deer bounding through the forest.
These kinds of images reinforce the glories of nature and escaping
the oppressive world of the modern city for a simpler time. In
terms of its structure, this poem also employs sound devices like
alliteration (a sense sublime / of something) and blank verse that
reflect the soothing, peaceful atmosphere. The informal language
and free- flowing organization of this poem are precursors of the
stream-of-consciousness narrative we see often in modern
literature. For this poem, your group will do a close-poetry
reading outline
Slide 9
Stages of Analysis Part 1: Is it Romantic? Part 2: TPCASTT Part
3: Individual Close Reading Paragraph. How does the poet create the
speaker, the attitude towards the subject, and the purpose of the
poem through stylistic devices.
Slide 10
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge Personification Wordsworth
breathes life into his sonnet by using personification, a kind of
metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is talked about as if it were
human. Look for details that personify the city, the sun, the
river, even the houses of London. Point of View Wordsworth chose to
spend most of his time in the English countryside, especially in
the beautiful Lake District where, he believed, nature had made him
a poet. First published in 1807, this sonnet shows that Wordsworth
the nature lover could be moved not only by mountains and
waterfalls, but also by the majesty of a sleeping cityin this case,
London. It is London seen from a distance, and by a man happily
journeying to France. Here, Londons filth and poverty are disguised
and transfigured by the poets imagination. The World is Too Much
with Us Allusion An allusion is a reference to a person, place,
thing, or event that is recognizable from literature, history,
religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or popular culture.
Allusions are often used to lend deeper meaning to a literary
passage or work. In Wordsworths poem The World Is Too Much with Us,
the poet alludes to two sea gods from Greek mythologyProteus and
Triton. By making reference to these gods, Wordsworth underscores
an earlier sentiment in the poem. Look for this connection as you
read. Counterargument This sonnet counterattacks the ferocious
criticism that Wordsworth was receiving from conservative
reviewers, especially Francis Jeffrey in the Edinburgh Review.
Jeffrey accused Wordsworth of using unpoetic language, but, even
more, of conspiring against society, brooding needlessly over
problems instead of contemplating the wonders and pleasures which
civilization has created for mankind. Jeffrey considered Wordsworth
an enemy of progress because of his idle discontent with the
existing institutions of society and his yearning for an earlier,
less civilized time when people lived in harmony with nature.
Slide 11
Stages of Analysis Part 1: Is it Romantic? Part 2: TPCASTT Part
3: Individual Close Reading Paragraph. How does the poet create the
speaker, the attitude towards the subject, and the purpose of the
poem through stylistic devices.
Slide 12
Samuel Coleridge: Kubla Khan Background Samuel Taylor Coleridge
was known for his presentation of the fantastic, perhaps a product
of his addiction to opium. His poem Kubla Khan is an excellent
example of mood, which was a major concern of Romantic writers. He
claimed it was written in a reverie brought on by opium taken after
he had read a provocative passage in a seventeenth-century travel
book. Coleridge asserted that he woke from his dream and was
interrupted by a visitor while composing the poem. After the
visitor departed an hour later, a mere fragment of his dream-poem
could be reproduced, he claimed. Kubla Khan has a lyrical tone and
manner that resemble a meditative ode. Full of mystery and dread,
Kubla Khan was composed at about the same time (late 1797 or early
1798) as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Kubla Khan (c.
1216-1294), the grandson of Genghis Khan, was the Mogul ruler of
China.
Slide 13
Literary Focus Alliterationthe repetition of a consonant sound
in words that are close to one anothercan have several effects.
Coleridge uses alliteration throughout Kubla Khan to help create
the poems enchanted mood. Alliteration can impart a musical quality
to a poem, emphasize a particular line or idea, or help establish a
rhythm. Rhythm and Rhyme Scheme: Coleridge is using iambs
(unstressed stressed), but his rhyme scheme is: A B A A B C C D B D
B E F E E F G G H H I I J J K A A K L L M N M N O O P Q R R Q B S B
S T O T T T O U U O
Slide 14
Emerging from a Dream Kubla Khan has always intrigued readers,
including the poet Byron, who, after reading it in manuscript,
apparently persuaded Coleridge to publish it in 1816. At the time,
Coleridge added a prose introduction that offered a rational
account of the poems origins. The poem you are about to read may
challenge the limits of your imagination. It is meant to be heard.
Fantastical and strange, it is like a vivid yet incomprehensible
dream. Coleridge, in fact, suggested that the poem came to him in a
dream. Like a dream, the poem contains allusions to the deepest
human desiresfor pleasure, order, beauty, even chaos and war. It
also holds within it the moment when, upon waking, the vividness
and the supposed logic of the dream are suddenlyperhaps forever
lost to the dreamer.
Slide 15
Breaking it Down: Stanza One It begins as a dream stimulated by
Coleridges reading of Samuel Purchas 17th century travel book,
Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions
observed in all Ages and Places discovered, from the Creation unto
the Present(London, 1617). The first stanza describes the summer
palace built by Kublai Khan, the grandson of the Mongol warrior
Genghis Khan and founder of the Yuan dynasty of Chinese emperors in
the 13th century, at Xanadu (or Shangdu): In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree Xanadu, north of Beijing in inner
Mongolia, was visited by Marco Polo in 1275 and after his account
of his travels to the court of Kubla Khan, the word Xanadu became
synonymous with foreign opulence and splendor. Compounding the
mythical quality of the place Coleridge is describing, the poems
next lines name Xanadu as the place Where Alph, the sacred river,
ran Through caverns measureless to man This is likely a reference
to the 2nd century geographer Pausanias description of the River
Alpheus in Description of Greece. What are other features of this
landscape?
Slide 16
Breaking it Down: Stanza Two According to Pausanias, the river
rises up to the surface, then descends into the earth again and
comes up elsewhere in fountains -- clearly the source of the images
in the second stanza of the poem: And from this chasm, with
ceaseless turmoil seething, As if this earth in fast thick pants
were breathing, A mighty fountain momently was forced: Amid whose
swift half-intermitted burst Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding
hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the threshers flail: And mid these
dancing rocks at once and ever It flung up momently the sacred
river. Where the lines of the first stanza are measured and
tranquil (in both sound and sense), this second stanza is agitated
and extreme, like the movement of the rocks and the sacred river,
marked with the urgency of exclamation points both at the beginning
of the stanza and at its end: And mid this tumult Kubla heard from
far Ancestral voices prophesying war! Highlight the Agitated and
Extreme WordsHow do these develop a shift in tone?
Slide 17
Breaking it Down: Stanzas Three and Four The fantastical
description becomes even more so in the third stanza: It was a
miracle of rare device, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
What other fantastic images are there in this stanza? And then the
fourth stanza makes a sudden turn, introducing the narrators I and
turning from the description of the palace at Xanadu to something
else the narrator has seen: A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision
once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimer she
played, Singing of Mount Abora. Some critics have suggested that
Mount Abora is Coleridges name for Mount Amara, the mountain
described by John Milton in Paradise Lost at the source of the Nile
in Ethiopia (Abyssinia) -- an African paradise of nature here set
next to Kubla Khans created paradise at Xanadu. How does the song
reflect the emergence of Coleridges poem?
Slide 18
Breaking it Down: The Final Stanza To this point Kubla Khan is
all magnificent description and allusion, but as soon the poet
actually manifests himself in the poem in the word I in the last
stanza, he quickly turns from describing the objects in his vision
to describing his own poetic endeavor: Could I revive within me Her
symphony and song, To such a deep delight twould win me, That with
music loud and long, I would build that dome in air, That sunny
dome! those caves of ice! This must be the place where Coleridges
writing was interrupted; when he returned to write these lines, the
poem turned out to be about itself, about the impossibility of
embodying his fantastical vision. The poem becomes the
pleasure-dome, the poet is identified with Kubla Khan -- both are
creators of Xanadu, and Coleridge is apeaking of both poet and khan
in the poems last lines: And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His
flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise. Wordsworth advocated the
spontaneous overflow of powerful emotionsUse the chart to fill in
how the Final Stanza reflects this ideal.
Slide 19
Kubla Khan: The Literary Criticism Focused on the influence of
opium on its dreamlike qualities Language and meter are too
intricate for it to have been created by the fevered mind of a
sleeping poem Is the poem truly a fragment? Does the fifth stanza
sum up the poem? Does the poem have no veritable meaning (T.S.
Eliot) Or is it an allegory (a symbolic story) about the creation
of art? Or is it a reflection of how, like Xanadu, art offers a
refuge from the chaos?
Slide 20
Stages of Analysis Part 1: Is it Romantic? Part 2: SOAPS
Outline Part 3: Individual Close Reading Paragraph. How does the
poet create the speaker, the attitude towards the subject, and the
purpose of the poem through the images and the choice of words he
selects?
Slide 21
Rime of Ancient Mariner Rime of Ancient Mariner Coleridges most
famous poem is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. This literary
ballad contains adventure, happiness, sadness, anxiety, regret,
fear, and forgiveness, among other emotions. That is true
Romanticism, to combine so many aspects of human feeling in one
work and to depict an exotic adventure through the supernatural and
the fantastic. Coleridges use of rhyme and ballad stanza structure
makes the long poem easy to read. Think of each part as a chapter
in a book. After we complete Stanza 1 and 2, you will be assigned
Stanzas 3-7 Your group will create a paraphrase and a Picture Book
for the sections of the poem which you will present to the class
with key lines and summary of the section.
Slide 22
Rime of the Ancient Mariner BackgroundThe Ballad Coleridge
wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as part of the collaboration
with Wordsworth in 17971798. As Coleridge later recalled, some of
the poems in this volume were intended to present ordinary people
and events in a fresh and interesting way. Others, such as Ancient
Mariner, were to present supernatural characters and events, yet in
such a way that would induce the reader to procure for these
shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the
moment, which constitutes poetic faith. Coleridges literary ballad
imitates the traditional folk ballad in both subject matter and
form. Like the old folk ballads (see page 130), his sensational
narrative blends real with supernatural events. It also uses simple
language, a good deal of repetition, and strong patterns of rhythm
and rhyme. Coleridge was a skilled poet, and to avoid monotony, he
often varies his meter and rhyme scheme. He also uses sophisticated
sound devices like internal rhyme (The guests are met, the feast is
set ) and assonance(Tis sweeter far to me). To give his ballad an
archaic sound, he uses language that was old-fashioned for his
day.
Slide 23
Mariner: Reading Focus ARGUMENT How a Ship having passed the
Line was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South
Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical
Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that
befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to his
own Country. Themes in Ancient Mariner and Frankenstein: The
Natural World: The Physical The Spiritual World: The Supernatural
Liminal Space: Between two realms: reason & imagination,
dreaming & waking Duty to Others Religion Retribution The Act
of Storytelling
Slide 24
Ancient Mariner: Part One Wedding (Natural) WorldSea
(Supernatural) World 3 Guests going to a wedding 1 guest listens to
the story The wedding itself serves as a counterpoint to the
mariners story Opening Journey SUNNY BEGINNING (Personification of
the Sun) STORM-BLAST: Sailors escape SNOW-FOG: Land of ice and of
fearful soundsthe arrival of the Albatross CONFESSION: I SHOT the
ALBATROSS Connection to Letters: Consider that Coleridge read this
poem to Mary Shelley, how does the opening letter in Frankenstein
create two worldsRobert Waltons childhood and his desire to be a
sailor?
Slide 25
Part Two: Individual v. Group Blamed for killing the Albatross
Praised for kill the Albatross Crew turns against him Mariner: I
had done a hellish thing Killed the bird that made the breeze to
blow When weather turns again, no breeze, water, water, every where
nor any drop to drinkThe Mariner notes: instead of the cross, the
Albatross about my neck was hung Fog clears: thus make themselves
accomplices in the crimeCrew approves I had killed the bird that
brought the fog and mist Fair Breeze continues Connection to the
Letters: How does Mary Shelley expand on the relationships between
the crew? How does she explore the suspension of the journey
(Letter IV)? How does Frankenstein, the character set up the
Albatross around his neck? (Letter IV)
Slide 26
Group Work Focal Points Part 3: Things get much worse for the
crew, but the glimmer of hope on the horizon brings a skeleton ship
with two figures, sentenced to LIFE-IN-DEATH for killing the
albatross Part 4: Wedding guest reacts with fear, Marnier tells of
the decaying of his shipmates and his own wish for death, has a
nature moment and the curse is broken Part 5: Sleep (Dream State of
the Body)the dead men rise and sail the ship at night and then the
Mariner hears two voices Part 6: The Angels Dialogue and Imagines
the dead are on the deck, reflection on the curse and the wind
eventually gets him home Part 7: Greeted by the Hermit, Ship sinks
and Mariner is rescued, Mariner tells his tale to the Hermit
(absolved of his guilt) but finds he has to keep telling the story.
Wedding Guests exit the church.
Slide 27
Homework: Plot out key points (use web links to Gustav More for
pictures for your Part) and write down key lines you could use in
your Mariner Group WorkDue Next Class On Going on a Journey
BlogComplete Analysis Log and Key Quotes Due Next Class (Blog Prep)
Focus on reasons to go alone, reasons against going with someone
else, and how going to a foreign country is different Upcoming
Major Assignments: Read Frankenstein Chapter 1-4 (24 pages):
Complete Episodic Notes and Character Analysis on Victor
Frankenstein (due Thurs. Jan. 31/Fri. Feb.1) Think about
Frankensteins Grief Read the specific Poetry Group Poems and Lesson
Plan Directions from Romantics and Victorians Complete SOAPS and
DIDLS for both poems (due Mon. Feb. 4/Tues. Feb. 5)
Slide 28
Intro into Going on a Journey Throughout the essay he creates a
series of oppositions, mainly rural vs. urban Quick Bite: In this
essay, Hazlitt examines the joys of walking in nature by oneself.
Many of his reasons reflect the Romantic ideals and the Romantic
writers of the day, which he often cites, and Coleridge he
discusses as the one person that he would not mind on a journey
through nature, if he must have company. In the middle of the essay
he explores what happens when someone goes with you and why it is a
distraction. In the middle of the essay he recalls the inns where
he has stayed alone, recalling one that he visited before meeting
up with Coleridge. Hazlitt ends his essay by examining the
experience one has when one goes to another country, as a
juxtaposition to the others. Quick Write on Topic: Hazlitt begins
his essay with the following line: "One of the pleasantest things
in the world is going a journey, but I like to go by myself." Make
a Prediction: Position Reasons for Going Alone Negative Reasons for
Going with Others
Slide 29
On Going on a Journey: EXPERT GROUPS Group 1: Reasons to Walk
Alone (109-to I begin to feel, think, and be myself again-top of
110) Group 2: Problems with Having a Companion except Coleridge
(mid 110-end of first paragraph on 112) Group 3: C/C Journey Alone
vs. Journey Abroad (bottom 114- 115) HOW DOES HAZLITT REFLECT THE
ROMANTIC IDEALS?
Slide 30
Rime of Ancient Mariner Groups Facilitator: Keeps group members
organized and on task. This person assigns stanzas for students to
practice reading aloud and to paraphrase them. Recorder: This
person is responsible to see that students write down their
paraphrased statements of their assigned stanzas on their copy of
the poem. Art Director: This person is responsible to see students
create drawings or directing the scene of appropriate events in
their part of the poem, including written stanzas on the drawing.
Use the Six-Sequence (3 key events per Part) You will create
together: the direct quotes, the paraphase or play, and the images
(acting, drawn, or taken from Gustav More)
Slide 31
Themes to Consider in Your Parts The Natural World: The
Physical v. The Spiritual World: The Supernatural Liminal Space:
Between two realms: reason & imagination, dreaming & waking
Duty to Others Religion Retribution The Act of Storytelling
Connection to Frankenstein Coleridge gives pre-explanations
throughout the Parts. Use these to guide your discussion of the key
tableaux that you will present to the class. Make sure they connect
to the themes.
Slide 32
William Blake Background In the late 1700s, prices increased
sharply and work became scarce. Blake saw starving people rooting
through garbage, homeless families sleeping in doorways, and
children begging on the streets or working at horrible jobs. Most
members of the upper class believed that they deserved their
comfortable stations in life, and that the poor must be innately
evil, deserving the hunger and appalling conditions that they
endured. Blake was said to be mad, not only because he saw visions,
but also because his poems cry out against the social problems he
saw all around him: the growing division between classes, the
wretched working conditions, and child labor. No one should go
hungry, he said, in a land as green and wealthy as England. Quick
Write: What are the injustices of the modern world? What are the
conditions for the modern 12 year-old? Is this the same
everywhere?
Slide 33
Blakes Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience Blakes Poems:
Innocence to Experience William Blake first published Songs of
Innocence in 1789. In 1794, this collection and Songs of Experience
were issued together in one volume, the title page promising a
demonstration of the two Contrary States of the Human Soul. Blake
conceived the first of these states, Innocence, as a state of
genuine love and naive trust toward all humankind, accompanied by
unquestioned belief in Christian doctrine. Though a firm believer
in Christianity, Blake thought that its doctrines were being used
by the English Church and other institutions as a form of social
control: to encourage among the people passive obedience and
acceptance of oppression, poverty, and inequality. Recognition of
this marks what Blake called the state of Experience, a profound
disillusionment with human nature and society. One entering the
state of Experience sees cruelty and hypocrisy only too clearly but
is unable to imagine a way out. Blake also conceived of a third,
higher state of consciousness that he called Organized Innocence,
which is expressed in his later works. In this state, ones sense of
the divinity of humanity coexists with oppression and injustice,
though involving continued recognition of and active opposition to
them.
Slide 34
Blake: The Poison Tree In A Poison Tree, Blake expects his
readers to recognize the allusion to the biblical story of Adam and
Eve. When Adam and Eve eat fruit from the forbidden tree, they are
cast out of Eden. In the poem, the speakers foe likewise eats the
fruit of the poison tree and dies. The tree is a symbol of the
speakers anger and hatred. By hiding his anger, the speaker
deceives his foe, and when his foe partakes of this hidden rage, it
destroys him. There is a deliberate cause-and-effect relationship
in this poem: Harboring anger leads to destruction
Slide 35
Brief Analysis of Poison Tree Subject and theme: Wrath (anger)
and desire to triumph over enemies; the dark side of human nature.
Key image: The tree which bears the poisonous fruit. Technical
features: Simple narrative in form of parable; "wrath" a powerful
Biblical term for a deadly sin; Tree suggests Biblical and mythical
narratives; Contrast between treatment of friend and of foe;
Repeated use of "And" or "I" to start lines; Rhyme words in second
stanza as metaphors of nurturing the desire to harm; Conclusion
shows how horrible wrath can be - this is not a literal killing but
real spiritual and psychological harm are done.
Slide 36
Application to The Chimney Sweeper In these two poems, the
first from Songs of Innocence and the second from Songs of
Experience, Blake speaks for the poor children of his day who were
forced to do backbreaking labor. In Blakes London, buildings were
heated by coal- or wood-burning fireplaces, so every house had at
least one chimney that had to be cleaned regularly. Poor children
were often used to do this dirty and hazardous work because they
could fit into the narrow chimney passages. In fact, some parents
were so poverty stricken that they sold their children to masters
who managed crews of young sweepers. The work was dangerous, and
the children were badly treated by masters concerned only with
profits. If you could cry out against an evil of our dayand get
people to listenwhich social injustice would you protest? Take a
few minutes to jot down your thoughts
Slide 37
Literary Elements: Compare/Contrast: The Chimney Sweeper
Parallelism When words, phrases, or sentences are arranged in
balanced grammatical structures, they are said to be parallel.
Poets, dramatists, preachers, and speechwriters (whose work is
meant to be spoken aloud) are particularly likely to employ
parallelism because the repetition it introduces enhances the
rhythmic and emotional effect of their lines and makes them easier
to understand and remember. Blakes use of parallelism contributes
to the childlike simplicity of the surface of his poems. Focus
Questions The 1794 collection, remember, was called Songs of
Innocence and Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the
Human Soul: explain how these poems show "contrary states". How, in
these two poems, does Blake explore different ideas about God and
nature? Which do you find more appealing (if either) and why? Both
poems use simple rhymes and regular meter. Does this mean the ideas
in the poems are simple, too? Give reasons for your answer.
Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram
Slide 38
Homework Complete Mariner if Needed Frankenstein Chap. 1-4
(17-42) DUE NEXT CLASS
Slide 39
The Lamb Subject and theme: Lamb is symbol of suffering
innocence and Jesus Christ. Key image: The Lamb as seen through the
eyes of a child. Technical features: Repeated questions, directed
to the lamb, but easier to answer than those addressed to the
tiger; Answers given in the second stanza; Idyllic setting of
"stream and mead" Contrasts with "forests of night" (exotic and
dangerous) in The Tyger; Suggests Biblical book of Psalms
especially the 23rd psalm, with its "green pastures"; As well as
making The Lamb, God becomes like The Lamb: Jesus is both the "Good
shepherd" and "The Lamb of God". Like the Passover lamb, He is
sacrificed to redeem others.
Slide 40
The Tygre Subject and theme: Tiger as a symbol of God's power
in creation Key images: The tiger as seen by Blake's poetic
imagination: "fearful symmetry"; "burning bright...fire";
"hammer...chain...furnace...anvil". Technical features: Repeated
(rhetorical) questions; contrast with meekness of The Lamb; Tyger
is addressed directly; simple metre and rhyme; incantatory rhythm
(like casting a spell); creation like an industrial process (fourth
stanza).
Slide 41
The Tygre and The Lamb Review Brief Notes for Blake Poetry
Elements Graphic Organizer Poetry Elements Questions from Writing
About Poetry