Romantic Poetry
I. First-generation Romantics
1) William Blake (1757-1827)
cf. pp. 172, 176-177
He was born in London into a lower class family.
He was sent to a drawing school when he was very
young.
He took writing poetry when he was only in his late
twenties. Thanks to his educational background
writing and visual arts are always closely associated
for him.
His works did not bring him fame or financial succes.
William Blake
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His view of the world is complex because he uses a
complex symbolism and a personal reworking of
myth, biblical and historical materials
Blake's personality and poetry mark the beginning
of the Romantic Age. He reacted violented against
all traditional forms. Politically he was in favour of
both American and French revolutions.
William Blake's works, style, language
Songs of Innocence (1789) : is his first collection
of poems(The Lamb and The Tiger)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794)
Blake's style in poetry is difficult because of his
use of complex symbols. He believed that the
physical world could be read as the book of God.
The language, is fairly simple, he often adopts an
apparently naive style, using a plain (simple), AngloSaxon (not Latinate) vocabulary, as well as
repetitions, refrains, and regular stress patterns.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1794
They were songs intended for children, but
together they were meant to show "the two
contrary states of the human soul":
innocence and experience.
The fallen world:
World of Innocence
World of Experience
Garden of Eden
Similar subjects from a
different point of view
Full of joy
A corrupted world
Selfishness (egoismo)
Social injustice
Symbols: Child, lamb
Symbol: a disquieting
(inquietante) tiger
The fallen world:
Blake's
Blake'spoetry
poetryisisaa
criticism
criticismof
ofthe
the
suffering
sufferingof
ofthe
the
poor
poorand
andthe
the
oppressed.
oppressed.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1794
The idea of a world of innocence and a world of
experience, which could be two states of mind, is
related with Blake's philosophy of contrasts.
Innocence and experience co-exist in the same
person and they can never be reconciled. For the
poet this tension, this dialectical opposition is
essential. Blake believes in the value of faith (fede)
and intuition: these are the only source. Imagination
enables man to see beyond (al di là) physical reality.
The internal mind really builds the external world
that man sees.
The child as the object of poetry
Blake is the first to write the 'poetry of the child'.
(For his poems he adopts regular stress patterns
which are typical of children's songs or hymns.)
He is interested in children's peculiar world, their
states of mind, representig them in a language that
often reflects their simplicity and imagination.
He is also the first to denounce children's
exploitation by cruel and oppressive families and
society, and to express his moral indignation at this.
The Lamb - The Tyger
cf. pp. 178-182
The poem The Lamb belongs to the collection Songs of Innocence. Each
poem of this collection corresponds to poem of the collection Songs of
Innocence and Experience at this poem corresponds the tiger.
The theme is the creation
This poem is a lullaby: it conteins some refrains simple to remember. Its
rhymes are baciate
It contains also some recurrent sounds such as l, d, t
It is short and immediate
In the 1st stanza there are some questions
In the 2nd stanza there are answers to the questions
Lamb: positive adjectives and nouns
It is in a rejoicing valley, a pleasant place. If there is a danger, it could be
visible. The same it is not possible in a forest
So there is a comparison between the valley and the forest
In the tiger the animal is in a forest
2nd stanza: symbolism there are recurrent references to the Bible
Lamb: sacrifice for the humanity
Comparison with the sacrifice of Christ
Lamb: a moral state, pure in his heart
Also an adult can be pure can have a pure soul (childhood is a frame of
mind)
The Lamb: guided analysis
The poem starts with a question that doesn't receive an answer because
the stanza end with the repetition of the questions asked in lines 1 and 2.
The words that describe the lamb are:
“clothing of delight” - “softest clothing wooly bright” - “tender voice”
The words that descibe the setting are: “stream” - “mead” - “vales”.
The poet wants to give an image of tenderness, peaceful nature, purity.
Stanza n. 2 gives the answer to the question of stanza n.1 concerning
the creation of the lamb.
The Creator is described by the following words: “He is called by thy
name” - “he calls himself a lamb” - “he is meek” - “he is mild” - “he
becomes a little child“
The poet is speaking to the little lamb about the Creator. The Creator is
identified with the following expressions: „He“, „a Lamb“, „a little child“.
The poet is identified with a child.
The lamb symbolized the purity of childhood, its perfect innocence, a
state of the soul.
The Lamb: guided analysis
The two stanzas of this poem are regular, they are both made up by 10
lines, they both start and end with an indented couplet.
The rhyme scheme is: aabbccddaa
Summary
The Tiger: guided analysis
The subject of this poem is an archetypal „tiger“ whose origins are buried
in mystery and darkness.
The Tyger: guided analysis
(lines 1 to 16)
.
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Tigre! Tigre! Ardente e Luminosa,
nella foresta della notte,
Quale immortale mano o occhio
potè dare forma alla tua terribile simmetria?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
In quali lontanissimi cieli
bruciò il fuoco dei tuoi occhi?
Su quali ali osa egli librarsi?
Che cosa osa afferrare il fuoco?
And what shoulder, and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
E quale spalla, e quale braccio
riuscì a torcere le fibre del tuo cuore?
E, quando il tuo cuore iniziò a battere,
quale spaventosa mano, e quale spaventoso
piede?
Quale il martello? E quali catene?
In quale fornace fu la tua mente?
Quale incudine? Quale terribile presa
osa afferrare il suo mortale terrore?
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
The Tyger: guided analysis
(from line 17)
.
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Quando le stelle lanciavano a terra i loro
dardi
e inondavano il cielo con le loro lacrime
sorrise vedendo il suo lavoro?
Fu colui che fece l'agnello a fare te?
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Tigre! Tigre! Ardente e Luminosa,
nella foresta della notte,
Quale immortale mano o occhio
potè dare forma alla tua terribile simmetria?
The Tyger: guided analysis
The adjectives that could sum up the qualities of the tiger are:
mysterious (the forest of the night), frightening, violent (its fearful
symmetry, the fire of its eyes, the sinews of its heart, the deadly
terrors of its brain); the adjectives that could sum up the qualities
of the Creator are: divine (immortal hand or eye), almighty (could
frame, dare size, could twist, dare...clasp, made thee).
Focus on sound devices used by the poet:
●
●
●
Alliteration: burning/bright; frame/fearful; distant/deeps;
what/wings; began/beat; dare/deadly; stars/spears; smile/see;
made/make; the/thee.
Assonance: fire/thine/eyes; size/fire; deadly/terrors; he/thee.
Repetition: Tyger!Tyger! - dare – What/what – heart – eye/eyes,
Did – dread.
The Tyger: guided analysis
The poet addresses his imagined tiger with an invocation and a question.
This animal appears like a burning bright and a fearful creature.
The poet is wondering about who created this tiger.
In stanza n. 2 the poet emphasizes the distance between the Creator
and ourselves. The question conveys a feeling of awe where the tiger
appears to be a supernatural animal. In stanza n.3 and 4 the poet wants
to underline the role of intelligence, of mind in creation more than the
physical aspect of the tiger. Riders are terrified of the divine strength: the
Creator appears to be a daring and awesome craftsman.
The stars are personified as a kind of heavenly arm, as warriors yielding
spears capable of pity and compassion. The stars weep perhaps for poor
suffering humanity.
The poet wonders whether the lamb and the tiger were made by the
same creator because they have different characters. The lamb is meek
and mild, the tiger is powerful and potentially aggressive.
Stanza n. 6 repeats stanza n. 1 with a single change of word (could →
dare). In Stanza n. 1 the verb „could“ gives a feeling of wonder at the
Creator's power, in stanza n.6 with the verb „dare“ there is wonder at the
Creator's fearlessness.
The Tyger: guided analysis
The last two words of the poem „fearful symmetry“ are famous: fearful
has a negative connotation, symmetry is generally considered a positive
quality. The former is associated with chaos and anxiety, the latter with
order and assurance. The expression is certainly typical of Blake's theory
of contrasts. It is an oxymoron useful to allow the poet describe opposite
feelings at the same time. In this way he is perhaps suggesting that life is
made up of opposite things and contradictions.
If we analyze the whole poem, the poet's questions remains without any
answer.
This poem is made up by 6 stanzas of four lines each, rhyming aabb.