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Critical Analysis of William Blake's Poem "The Tiger'

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Critical Analysis of William Blake's Poem "The Tiger'
ШУМЕНСКИ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
“ЕПИСКОП КОНСТАНТИН ПРЕСЛАВСКИ”

Факултет по хуманитарни науки Project title:

Write a critical analysis of William Blake's poem "The Tiger' paying special attention to the stance of the poetic speaker

Name: Ивелин Иванов Минков

Faculty number: 1063

Forth year English studies SHUMEN 2013 “The Tyger” is the most disputed of Blake’s lyrics among interpreters. It is a counterpart of his other literary work “The Lamb”. They both belong to a collection named “Songs of Innocence and Experience”. In “The Lamb”, the grand question “Who made thee?” is answered–Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, while in “The Tyger” it remains open. Admittedly, this has left much room for various speculations about the tiger and its creator. The perception of the image of the tiger has varied considerably. For example, for Wicksteed, in his 1928 study of the songs, the tiger is a representation of the Creator, God. For S. Damon, “The Lamb” is an incarnation of God’s forgiveness, while “The Tyger” of His punishment. Jessie Beer reckons the tiger to be a resemblance of Moby Dick. Jacob Bronowski believes the tiger to be “Christ…a symbol of energy burning in a darkening world.” There are some critics who see in the tiger even a representation of the Revolution in France or revolutions in general, such as Mark Schorer, David Erdman, Stuart Crehan. The diversity of views on the tiger has resulted in various suggestions for the poem’s ideological setting- religious, political, existential. All that partly justifies the assertion that the
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