The Tyger: Songs Of Experience Flashcards
What is the summary of this poem
-experience collection — dark tone, moral message, stark
-speaker puzzled by sight of tiger in the night
-asks tiger series if questions about its appearance + it’s creator
What is the key context
-partner poem the lamb — innocent, religious, sacrificial
-tyger metaphor of mankind
-hints story Icarus — ignore fathers warnings + flew too close to the sun, wings melted + fell into the sea
-questioning nature of god + his creations — why?
What is the metre of stanza 1
-L1-3 trochaic + L4 spondaic + iambic
-trochaic — chaotic + tense or mournful
-spondaic — striking effect
-iambic — a pleasing rhythm + hints nursery rhymes + gives poem sense of importance
What is the metre of stanza 2
-all trochaic
-chaotic + intense
-highlighted by repeated rhetorics
What is the metre of stanza 3 + 4
-metre disruptive
-L1 trochaic
-L2+3 spondaic/iambic
-L4 trochaic
-stanza 4 all trochaic again like stanza 2
What is the metre of stanza 5
-back to disruptive like stanza 3
-trochaic + iambic alternate
-chaos/intensity + soothing rhythm intertwined
-trochaic lines sound aggressive but iambic soothing e.g. ‘spears’ + ‘water’
-sublime of nature (iambic) mixed with the divine (trochaic as god destroyer + creator)
What is the metre of stanza 6
-L1-3 trochaic + L4 spondaic + iambic
-metre disruptions — beating + intone compared to lilting
What is the rhyme scheme
-stanza 1 rhyming couplets — duality of nature + god
-all rhymes masculine — reflect god + his power as men superior also sound strong + definite
-cyclical structure frames ode — questions never answer as god transcendent + omnipotent
What are key comparisons
-west wind
-nightingale
-sonnet on sea
-the question
-urn
What are the key themes
-duality
-corruption
-religion/divinity
-human nature
-nature + creation
-sublime
