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romantic poetry > the Tyger > Flashcards

the Tyger Flashcards

1
Q

speaker/ voice

A
  • most likely Blake himself
  • speaks directly to tiger, asking how it was created
  • hes in awe at tigers beauty, but also afraid of its power and ferociousness
  • his appreciation for the tiger extends to his appreciation for the God who made him - impressed at the vision and imagination to create something so complex and yet symmetrical
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2
Q

rhetorical devices

A
  • ‘what the hammer? what the chain, in what furnace was thy brain?’
  • speaker overwhelmed by tiger and its beauty, asking himself so many questions repeatedly about how it could have been made
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3
Q

‘did he who made the lamb make thee?’

A
  • speaker is in awe that the same God could make something so gentle like the lamb but also make a powerful predatory tiger
  • tiger symbolises ‘experience’, the aspects of life that are dangerous
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4
Q

double interpretation of the lamb

A

-allegorical reference to Jesus who is referred to in bible as the ‘lamb of God’ due to his good nature

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5
Q

semantic field of smithing

A
  • ‘furnace’ ‘hammer’ ‘chain’ ‘anvil’

- these words create an image of God creating the tiger in a smithy, using blacksmith tools

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6
Q

apostrophe

A
  • speaker repeated phrase ‘tiger, ‘tiger’ which is symmetrical, directly talking to tiger
  • asks ontological questions about nature of existence and how life is created
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7
Q

interrogative pronouns

A
  • ‘what’ is repeated throughout, showing poet is opening up a line of questioning
  • creates a tone of panic and uncertainty, as though speaker has so many questions about different aspects of tiger
  • poem is driven by speakers need to understand more, his anxiety about limitations of hi own creativity and imagination
  • frustrated tone at not understanding the tiger
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8
Q

visual imagery of ‘burning bright in the forests of the night’

A

-plosive alliteration of ‘burning bright’ emphasises image of the tiger who moves like a flame through a dark forsest as an emblem of fierce and fiery power

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9
Q

refrain of 1st stanza

A
  • first stanza fully repeated at the end, forming a refrain, showing that the central idea is that Blake wishes to emphasise the awe of the beauty and power of the tiger and wonders what God possibly made him
  • changes from ‘could’ to ‘dare’, stronger more shocking word, how dare he make something so powerful and beautiful
  • speaker in awe at tiger and creator
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10
Q

AABB rhyme scheme

A
  • rhyming couplet structure, each quatrain has AABB rhyme scheme
  • represents harmony between spiritual and physical self
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11
Q

regularity of structure

A
  • each stanza is a quatrain with a regular metre of 7 syllables per line
  • line ‘could frame thy fearful symmetry’ is only exception of this pattern with 8 syllables
  • hypometric, emphasises the line and shows it is a significant idea in poem
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12
Q

nature is sublime

A
  • speaker feels the tiger and all of nature which he views as created by God, is a sublime creation
  • marvels at its beauty but at the same time fears it complexity and power
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13
Q

by worshiping nature and appreciating it we can develop a deeper sense of spirituality

A
  • Blake was highly religious poets, felt that nature was an example of Gods creative work
  • Blake saw science and religion together as developing an understanding of our world and a way to get closer to God and appreciate his power
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14
Q

humans are far less powerful than nature/ God

A
  • part of feeling the ‘sublime’ is to have a sense that nature and God is far. more complex and powerful than an individual human could ever be
  • you feel in awe of that high-power, that works beyond your understanding
  • evident in the poem when Blake starts questioning how the tiger could have been made ‘what the hammer? what the chain?’ and finally overhwlemd when he realises the same force made the tiger as the lamb
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15
Q

romantic poets rejecting formalised religion

A
  • Blake and other poets in this movement believed in the power of nature, and embracing the extreme forces and emotions present in the world would lead to being In touch with these forces and experience better life and come close to God and his work
  • religios and spiritual but rjeecrd formalised religion and society norm way of worshipping God
  • Blake believed indiviaulds should develop a personal relationship with God instead of relying on priests to tell the
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16
Q

Blake as a visionary

A
  • had dreams and visions of God and angels speaking to him and tried to recount these vision in poetry and wiring
  • feels like he offered humanity insight into the divine
17
Q

‘stars threw down their spears’

context

A
  • reference to rebellion of fallen angles, led by satan against God
  • Blake heavily influenced by poet John Milton, took this quote directly from Paradise Lost
  • where rebellious angels admit their defeat In face of Gods power and ‘throw down their spears’
18
Q

‘stars threw down their spears’

analysis

A
  • associating tiger with heaven and hell
  • Blake hinting at this moment of surrender, coincides with creation of the tiger, because rebels have to admit defeat because the existence of this powerful tiger is clear evidence of Gods strength that cannot be defeated
19
Q

fire quotes

A

‘burning bright’
‘burnt the fire of thine eyes’
‘stars threw down their spears’
‘furnace’

20
Q

‘burnt the fire of thine eyes’

A
  • association with fire
  • alludes to tigers eyes being suggestive of creatures fearsome power
  • fire connotations surround idea of heaven and hell
21
Q

‘symmetry’

A
  • quality Blake associates with beauty and purposeful intent
  • fearful for reader as it suggest God purposely created evil, counteracts Gods laws and ethics
  • evident in the AABB rhyme scheme, with couplets symbolising harmony between spiritual and physical self, because if you appreciate the tiger and its qualities without being afraid of it then it shows a deeper respect and appreciation for God
22
Q

‘fearful symmetry’

A

-for Blake this extends to an appreciation for God because he is impressed that he had the vision and imagination to create something so complex yet so symmetrical

23
Q

constant pattern of unanswered questions

A
  • due to questions being unanswered, this is representative of them being unasnwerable by a mortal human being as our human mind cannot comprehend the power of nature and why God created it, we can only question
  • god proves his power through creating nature that humanity cannot comprehend, power of nature in the tiger is actually symbolising the power of god creation
24
Q

symbolism of tiger

A
  • symbolises the power of God’s nature
  • reason for existence of evil in the world
  • symbolises ‘experience’ - aspects of life that are dark and dangerous
  • symbolises the power of nature and if god embodies everything then is an example of gods power within nature
25
Q

rhetorical question in line 8

A
  • characterises the tigers creator as ‘daring’ which partnered with the word ‘dare’ repeated in final stanza
  • also final stanza is a refrain of the first, with only difference being this word, thus it highlights the significance of bravery the creator has to introduce the tiger into the world
  • reader left to question
26
Q

Blake doesnt argue for a sanitised world

A
  • doesn’t argue for a santitised world in which there is only joy and safeness, his collection looks at innocence and experience
  • in blakes perspective, all living creatures are expression of Gods power and his divine will, linking to idea of pantheism that other romantic poets believed in
27
Q

marriage of heaven and hell

A
  • contrast between lamb and tiger
  • in Blakes marriage of heaven and hell he says ‘without contraries there is no progression… reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence’
  • so this is why ‘he who made th lamb’ also made the tiger, because without fear there is no bravery, so tigers powerful nature symbolises existence of evil in the cold, and our human minds will never comprehend the powerful nature of God
28
Q

tiger as a symbol for savagery for the revolution

A
  • political pamphlet of the period attacking the French Revolution, where revolutionaries are described having ‘tigerish multitude’ and the ‘wanton cruelty of the tigers is to be claimed exclusively by the democracy’
  • other writers such as wordsworth and romilly used tiger imager to suggest savagery of the revolution
  • ‘forests of the night’ are a metaphor for the violent streets of revolutionary Paris
29
Q

1st draft of the tyger

A
  • powerful nature of the tiger. in 1st draft focused purely on horror of the tiger with ‘eyes of fury’
  • coinciding with the sense of disillusionment and horror amongst liberal English supporters of French Revolution during the Terror, when they felt their ideals were being betrayed by the violence of extreme revolutionaries
30
Q

paradox of tiger and its creator

A

-if tiger is such a strong and ‘dread’ creature then only an ‘immortal hand’ more stronger and dread could have the capacity to create it

31
Q

‘what shoulder’

‘twist the sinews’

A

-Blake questions ‘what shoulder’ created the tiger creating imagery of the sheer force of the creator, whose ‘shoulder’ is strong enough to ‘twist the sinews’ of the tiger and give it life

32
Q

double entendre of the ‘heart’

A
  • it relates more than just physical form, alludes to tigers way of perceiving and experiencing the world
  • phrase ‘close to heart’ is brought to mind considering the tigers ‘heart’ as it denotes something important and central to a persons existence
  • however activties of tiger are violent and destructive therefore creator must have some kind of bravery, mental strength and skill to bring this fearsome creature into the world
33
Q

line 11 when tiger ‘heart began to beat’

A
  • tiger now living and breathing, with this new life there comes a new metricral regularity, one of few lines of simple iambic tetrameter, symbolising the rhythm of heartbeat
  • despite this moment charaxteristed by ‘dread’ there is still an atmosphere of awe in the liens that speak to the astounding marvels of the power of Gods creation and in creativity itself
34
Q

tiger is sublime

A
  • it causes feelings of respect and fear because it is extremely powerful, beautiful and terrifying at the same time
  • thus speaker feels like the tiger and alll of nature created by God, is a sublime creation
  • Blake had a sense that nature is far more powerful and complex than an idnviduak human could ever be, so we feel in awe at this higher power
35
Q

where is it evident that the tiger is sublime

A

-Blake questioning ‘what the hammer? what the chain?’ that made the tiger and finally progresses to overwhelmingness when he realises ‘he who made the lamb’ made the tiger

36
Q

semantic field of smithing

A
  • nouns ‘furnace’ ‘hammer’ ‘chain’ ‘anvil’
  • relates to powerful nature of industry, thus creating imagery of a loud fiery metal workshop that created the tiger
  • blaked lived in London during the industrial revolution and saw its changes as a threat to humankind, with factories symbolising a form of physical and mental enalsavment linking to ‘mind forged manacles’
37
Q

tiger representing evil powers of nature and industrialisation

A

-if the tiger is to represent evil powers of nature, then Blake implying that evil comes from. industry corrupting nature, thus why the tiger is created through industrial objects and is the symbolic of existence of evil

38
Q

trochaic catalectic meter relating to industrial objects

A

-creates tension and pressure throughout, reflecting same fiery conditions the speaker imagines the tiger to be created in

romantic poetry (6 decks)

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