11th William Blake Poetry

William Blake poet and artist who claimed mystical visions were the source of his inspiration.

Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

Childhood beliefs vs. dark and mature awareness

Blake illustrated most of his collections of poetry using a process of printing and painting he himself devised.

Symbol word, image or idea that represents something else

(something abstract and not perceivable through the senses)

 "And wash in a river and shine in the Sun" = baptism

rose = love

eagle = honor, USA, justice

The Tyger

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).

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.

Themes to look out for: Nature and human nature; animals and plants as simple but profound symbols of powerful forces; "contrary states of the human soul" - for example, good and evil, or innocence and experience.

Technical features: Always start by identifying and explaining the central images in the poem; look at repetition, contrast and simple rhyme and metre; the rhymed words are nearly always important nouns and verbs; look for unusual language effects - Blake's non-standard spellings ("tyger", "catterpiller") and Biblical words ("wrath", "harlot"); puns and other wordplay.

“The Chimney Sweeper” (SOI)

The tone of  is naïve, innocent, and childlike. The speaker is a young boy who is optimistic about the entity of God and his own fate. The younger speaker sees the world as inherently good and hopeful.

In the poem, the child says, “So if all do their duty they need not fear harm” (l 24, 652).  This belief is obviously from a child’s point of view.  An adult point of view realizes that completing assigned tasks is no guarantee of an earthly reward.  Death is probably the only release for the child.