Font Size: a A A

The Interpretation Of William Blake And His 《Tiger》

Posted on:2005-11-08Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:X Y LiuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360122499678Subject:Comparative Literature and World Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Being a British romantic pioneer, William Blake is a poet, a painter, an engraver as well as a person full of fancies. His poems are full of mysterious unreal imaginations and his paintings are also full of mysterious abnormal images. He had once been regarded as a mysterious poet.Now the writings on William Blake have been increased with each passing day. Take the year of 1956 for instance, the writings on William Blake published in both England and America exceeded 30 sorts, outnumbered those on Shelley and Byron. Obviously, the heritage left by William Blake has been catching more and more attention.1957 is the 200th anniversary of William Blake's birthday. The commemoration of William Blake was no longer an event of England. It became a stir of the literary arena of the world. Museums hung out his portraits; psychologists were discussing his character; aesthetes were arguing about the relationship between his poem and his paintings; critics were trying to prove that 《Prophetic Books》is his master piece; the learned societies on William Blake were doing research on his mysterious philosophy; the collectors of antiques took even a word by him as a treasure. Once taken by many to be a hopelessly insane and regarded as a mysterious poet, the poet had finally been recognized.《The Songs of Experience》is one of William Blake's important poetry and 《Tiger》is a well-known poem. The wide spread poem has been highly valued by the critics world over. 《Tiger》has been taken as a symbolic poem. It looks like an obscure modern poem, and remains puzzled after pondering over it a hundred times. Some believe that it has something to do with religion. It was written in praise of God. Some believe that it is a riddle, the key to 《Tiger》 itself. It describes the process of the writing of the poem. The blacksmith with immortal hand and eye refers no others than the poet himself. Some believe that 《Tiger》is the symbol of the strength of resistance. But most of the readers believe that it symbolizes the revolutionary force. The writer of the paper stands on the side of the latter.In order to improve his conclusion, the writer is going to defense his view of point from the following three perspectives.1.William Blake 's experience. He was born in London where his father ran a small hosiery business. He was full of imagination. He ardently loved drawing and was sent to a drawing school. Simply because of being too expensive to support him to learn drawing, he was sent on apprenticeship school with an engraver named Ryland. He made his living on engraving and drawing the rest of his life. He lived in hunger and cold and suffered a great deal. That he was born of low extraction, he was penniless and frustrated, and he lived in the years of upheaval paved the way for his successful production of poems. He stood on the side of the people. He showed sympathy for the demand of freedom and democracy. He sympathized national liberation movements, women liberation movements, national and international oppressed laboring people. He had strong sympathy for enslaved Negroes. He was against wars. He supported revolutionary movements. He supported French Revolution and American Revolution. He was against autocracy and tyranny, "Kings and clergymen", all sort of swallowers. When he was 20, the Lord George Gorden No-Popery Riots took place, and he happened to meet the rioters and was swept down to the Newgate prison in the front rank. When he was 30, French Revolution took place. The progressive personages of London supported it. William Blake was one of them. It is during this time, 《The Songs of Experience》was completed. The famous epic 《French Revolution》was published in 1791, while 《The Songs of Experience》in 1793. It is thus clear that his revolutionary thought was firm and he was more skillful in the combination of revolutionary romanticism and realism. Therefore there is no reason that 《Tiger》is not interpreted as a symbol of revolution.2.William Blake's poems---from 《The Songs of Innocence...
Keywords/Search Tags:Interpretation
PDF Full Text Request
Related items