Romantism & William Blake "Tyger"

William Blake was always regarded as a poet-prophet, in his poems there is an interplay of Classcism and Romantism. He pays tribute to reason, the God he created himself and called him Urizen, is nothing more like Urizen is You Reason. He also had a Goddess, her name is Imagination.

According to William Blake: "The World of Imagination is a World of Eternity". The fact that he overwhelmed two centuries made a great impact on his writings and engravings.

 London was a place where he spent all his life. He had many visions, visions of the universe, the vision of the New and the old Testament. He wrote many prophetic books, such as: "Book of Los", "Book of four Zoas", "Jerusalem", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", "The Gospel of Evil". All his books are packed with antonyms, as he used to say:" ...without contraries there is no progression..." For instance; Heaven vs Hell, Tyger vs Lamb, Songs of Innocence vs Songs of Experience.

His philosophy was a philosophy of imagination, he believed in genius and intuition. In his engravings the outline, shape and contour were edge sharp!

We may presume he believed in God; "I am with God night and day, he never turns his face away".

As was mentioned above, William Blake was an engraver, for making his works he used copper plates and a chisel. He draw on copper plates, engraved contours with chisel and painted them with special varnish, at the end all art was covered by sulfuric. What was covered with varnish survived, the rest was eaten away. This way he created "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", the whole work is engraved, it doesn't contain pages.

For William Blake it was important "... to see through the eye, not with the eye...";

       

                     "...We are led to believe in a lie when we look with not through the eye..."

Once upon a time He was asked what had he seen in his vision, His answer was very fair - the hosts of Angels, he replied.

Undoubtedly in his works we feel, understand and notice 'doors of perceptions' which embodied an aesthetic assumption. In "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" William Blake wrote " ... if the doors of perception were closed, everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite..."

He favored the philosophy of enlightenment. He was regarded as a pre-romantic poet.



 "TYGER"

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
1794

The Tyger is an unusual one, abstract figure, embodiment of sublime, divine forces, it represents abstract visions; "What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry", it also symbolizes ... fear. In first stanza there is "could" which is mild emphasis, in second Blake is more aggressive used "dare".

Blake admires Tyger, there is an admiration of perfect creation of ... evil, sophistication. There is a genius, not a zoological tiger (which is weak, mortal, powerless, dull). The vision of Tyger is sublime, Tyger is about to scare us. Not because of its description, of its greatness but because of its immortality, Tyger represents supernatural forces, it is not terrestrial. Tyger is divine, so does his master, his creator who is transcendental.

The atmosphere of the poem is dark, mysterious, darkness is overwhelming, the only visible thing are eyes of the Tyger; "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, In the forest of the night".

William Blake used parabola; he wants the reader imagined the work and the world of the blacksmith. It is easier to imagine blacksmith's work to God's. God is abstract, naturally.

Without a cloud of doubt Tyger symbolizes Bad God, the God of Old Testament who is punished for Our sins in burning fire.