Reading Response 3

An Eye Opener to William Blake and His Works

      In the article “Point of View and Context in Blake’s Songs”, Robert F. Gleckner reveals the secrets within romantic poet William Blake’s works, and teaches the reader how to recognize the true meaning of all Blake’s songs. Robert talks about using point of view, context, symbols, organization, and perspective to discover the true meaning of Blake’s poems. He demonstrates how to properly understand a poem by using these concepts in examples of Blake’s work. In My Pretty Rose Tree, Robert exposes the true reason why the speaker gets no reward from his “rose tree”, and teaches how the use of symbolism can make all poems easier to interpret. When Robert compares the Piper and the Bard (two characters within Blake’s works from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience), he displays the use of experience versus innocence, and tells how Blake uses those dualities in all his poems to intensify the irony and significance. He also reveals that all of Blake’s songs should be read in the correct order of Songs of Innocence then Songs of Experience. To explain this Robert writes, “For the serious reader of Blake’s songs, then a constant awareness of the context of state in which a poem appears in indispensable; and since each state is made up of many poems, the other poem in that state must be consulted to grasp the full significance of any one poem.” By this he means that William Blake intended his songs to be read, and remembered in a certain order. If someone reads a random poem from one of Blake’s songs, without any background information, that person would be unable to find the deeper meaning Blake hoped to expose. Throughout the article Robert shows the reader piece by piece how to better understand Blake’s songs, using very vital concepts, he backs all of his teachings up with examples, and information from other authors.

      Robert’s techniques really helped me to understand not only the poems, but also William Blake himself. Because of him I now know how to properly annotate and understand poems, so I actually learn from Blake. I never realized the amount of irony contained in his works, and positively didn’t understand it; his ironic occurrences in poems are similar to jokes, extremely hard to understand if all the background information isn’t known. In the article Robert demonstrated how to detect metaphors and characters within each poem, which helped me to understand what Blake was truly trying to portray in My Pretty Rose Tree from Songs of Experience:

A flower was offered to me,

Such a flower as May never bore;

But I said "I've a pretty rose tree,"

And I passed the sweet flower o'er.

Then I went to my pretty rose tree,

To tend her by day and by night;

But my rose turned away with jealousy,

And her thorns were my only delight.

It would be difficult to decipher this poem if the context, point of view, and symbols were not understood. Before I read Robert’s article, I thought the poem was about a person that was really into flowers. Fortunately I now understand how to interpret the poem. To begin I realized the “flower” is a woman (a temptress), and the “pretty rose tree” is the speaker’s wife. Replacing those symbols alone helps to read the poem. The speaker (a man) is temped by a beautiful woman to commit adultery, yet the man resists the temptation and goes home to be with his wife. Still even though he resisted said temptation, his wife left him because of jealousy. In order to understand why the man's virtuous act of faithfulness had such unfortunate consequences I had to comprehend Blake’s definition of virtue. To Blake ‘virtue’ can mean two different things, depending on the perspective. Blake wrote in two different contexts, he wrote in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience; these two different works define the meaning of the poems inside them. My Pretty Rose Tree was taken from Songs of Experience, from that knowledge alone, I understand that someone in the poem will either be a symbol of experience or learn a lesson in experience. William Blake saw that without breaking the 10 commandments, virtue could not exist. He believed Jesus (in biblical times) acted from impulse, and not rules, and Jesus was all virtue. Concluding that a person of experience, in order to be virtuous, would have to act solely from impulse. In My Pretty Rose Tree the speaker acts from rules, the rule (commandment) “Thou shall not commit adultery”, by refusing the offer of the other woman (sweet flower). Even though the man was faithful to his rose, he still has the same consequence from his wife as he would have if he wasn’t faithful and had seized the opportunity. In Blake’s eyes the poem is a lesson, an example of the known Latin phrase “carpe diem” (seize the day). One who ties himself to a joy will kill the essence of initial happiness. Living in the moment and rejoicing that one was able to take part in the happiness at all leaves more room to enjoy other happy experiences. The speaker passed up a chance of initial joy, to return home to his rose; thus the speaker did not ‘seize the day’. In doing this, the man lost a chance for experience. Without knowing the point of view and context while reading My Pretty Rose Tree, I was unable to comprehend the meaning. Robert taught me to understand that in all of Blake’s writing there are multiple purposes within an individual poem (song), and these must be recognized in order for the poem to be properly understood the way Blake wished the message to be comprehended. Robert also gave me the gift of being able to accept romantic poetry, and appreciate it. I actually have a favorite poem now, Holy Thursday from Songs of Innocence. I like this song because I understand it, and it is not just a blob of complex words and confusing punctuation. Thanks to Robert F. Gleckner, I have ironically learned a lesson from this poem that I once dreaded.

The Tyger

THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)

By William Blake

Before watching the video:

Menagerie: a collection of live animals for study or display.

This video is presented by Blake enthusiast Professor John Stacy.
Unfortunately Professor Stacy is a little boring, but I added the video so that there is another interpretation of the "The Tyger" displayed, besides mine.

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? 

      Blake was one of the first common people of his time to see a tiger in the London menagerie. I wonder what it would have been like not to know that something so majestic exists, and then seeing it in real life for the first time. Children in America grow up with toy tigers, books with pictures of tigers in them, and they are on TV, nothing is a surprise to anyone anymore.

      After Blake saw the magnificent beast, he drew a picture of the tiger (above). Blake wondered why, and how God (speaking of him as an artist, in order to compare nature to a work of art) could create something so ferocious, so lethal, and then also create something to innocent and harmless like the lamb. In the poem the speaker is talking directly to the Tyger, asking it repeated questions that are similar to the first, “What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Throughout the next stanza’s Blake compares God to a sculptor and a blacksmith, and basically with a sting of questions, talking about how the Tyger was made. I think the Tyger in the poem is more then just a tiger itself, but it symbolizes the presence of evil in the world.

      Throughout the poem the speaker is asking, “What kind of a God, would design such a terrifying animal as the tiger?” And even under that it seems to be asking, “What does the undeniable existence of evil and violence in the world tell us about the nature of God?” I believe we live in a world in which He created both beauty and horror. How can you have one without the other? There are magnificent creatures like the tiger, and there are very meek and small creatures like the lamb. The speaker in the poem is not only asking about the tiger, but about evil and destruction itself. God created the tiger, just as he created us, are we not as destructive as a tiger? Do we not kill animals and eat them? A tiger is a ferocious beast, large in size and extremely strong, but if Blake is speaking about evil itself, I feel that people do more damage to not only other animals, but to other people. A tiger probably has a lower murder rate of the same species then human beings. I don’t feel that tigers are terrible, I would not want to be in close proximity to one, but are humans really any better?

      If then Blake is accusing God of creating something so evil as humans, I believe that God created man in his own image; and each man has the choice to do the right or wrong thing in their life. There is good, because there is evil; there is ferocious, because there is gentle; and there is innocence, because there is experience.

Prose Poem

The Silent Child

The silent child sits. Quiet. Obedient. She does not deserve the monster’s hits.

Yes, she is perceived as strong. As strong as the damaged may look. The happy face, the blank façade. Her emotions a closed black book. Day by bright day she fades through life, living in fear ‘til the next scary night.

Her friends do not notice, the clear tears in her eyes; and to the teachers she speaks great lies, but when the child is alone she cries and cries.

She does not cower from the monster, no, a fighter that is she. Weakness and suffering, is something the beast must not see. But without a reaction the monster pounds, breaks things, beats, and screams. Outside that sage room though, no one will see, the pain that is caused by the drugged demonic being.

The beast is a magician! A master of disguise! On the outside the beauty escapes no eyes. Happy and bubbling, a lovable woman. No one can see the pain that she is causing.

Lies the monster spreads, like hot wildfire it comes; so blatantly, so easily, spread to everyone. From every angle the monster tears apart the girls life. The child it is ruining, on the outside and in. But no one notices, no one cares, she is alone without a friend.

She tries, oh the child tries to escape and run away, but she will soon be back before the light of the next day. When she runs she sits in the cold, the silent white cold, lonely, and scared, no comfort at all. She screams into the night, none hear but the wind. She curses the sky for bring the beast in; in her room, in her house, every night the monster comes. To punish and terrorize, to go crazy, for fun. The child tries to defeat it; to destroy the monsters disgusting supply. But no matter what she does, the monster finds how to survive. She gets it somehow, the supply is coming! No matter how many times the child dumps, breaks, pours, and destroys it.

The poor girl is out of ideas; can it only be the way? To take her own life, would that ease the pain? She attempts the task, each day, after school; why would she want to live in a world so cruel?

Still, the child sits, with heavy blade and bible, hoping to cut the pain out from inside her. She asks her God, begs her God; does he hear her cry? When she sits the corner screaming “Why, why, why?” She gets no comfort, no help from pain; so she grins at the monster, and bears it the same.

In the darkness she sits, waiting for the monsters three a.m. fit. It comes and she takes it, never moving an inch. Quiet. Silent.

Analysis of Holy Thursday

      Holy Thursday is a poem written by William Blake, taken from Songs of Innocence.

’Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean,

The children walking two & two in red & blue & green,

Grey headed beadles walk’d before with wands as white as snow,

Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow.

O what a multitude they seem’d these flowers of London town!

Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own.

The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs,

Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song.

Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heavens among.

Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor;

Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

      Holy Thursday is more then the average entertaining poem; it is written to be a display of innocence. In the first stanza Blake writes about London on Holy Thursday (Ascension Day), where parishioners celebrate the fortieth day after the resurrection of Christ. On this day “grey headed beadles” guide rows of cleaned orphans, dressed and happy, into St. Paul church. These children are the ultimate example of innocence.

      Blake describes the children in the second stanza as “flowers of London town”, comparing the orphans to something as treasured as a flower. By doing this he is emphasizing the beauty and feebleness the children have, and banishing the assumed thought that the children are worthless and a trouble. In the third line of the second stanza Blake speaks of the children as metaphoric “lambs”, the lamb is the symbol of Christ, linking the children to the lamb of God. This is how Blake subtly expresses Jesus’ special love a care for all children.

      All citizens of London gather in the cathedral, to sit and observe the ceremony. In the third stanza the people watch the boys and girls raise their “innocent hands” to the Lord and sing to heaven. Blake describes the act to show the change in the children, they are no longer meek and mild; they are strong, and their voices are able to reach up to God and speak to heaven. The aged men seated below the children observe the powerful innocent act, and are touched. The speaker is also moved by the heartbreaking image of the mass, and reminds the reader that orphans like these are actually angels of God.

      William Blake wrote this song as a take on orphans who would clean up and march annually to church to sing. The children perceived this as a treat, which is an example of their innocent and bleak lives. It illustrates their innocence in the fact that they are orphans, poor and meek, with absolutely nothing, yet they get dressed, attend church with happiness, and praise the Lord. Once again Blake is teaching a sad lesson, a lesson many of today’s children should learn.

This is what I would picture the view of the mass would be for the orphans.

Lord Byron Blog

      I found the Lord Byron blog, created by Sydney Leliefield, Alejandra Hernandez, Natasha King, and Dani Henry, to be quite helpful and exciting. Their blog is devoted to the romantic poet Lord Byron; the posts contain information about his life and his love of poetry.

      I really liked the Lord Byron Blog. The layout was similar to the layout of my groups’ blog, and great minds think alike. The picture at the top of the page was a nice touch, along with the brief description of their poet. The blogs’ themselves were very interesting to read, with titles like “The Adventures of Lord Byron” and “Lord Byron and Vampires” how could they not be?

      I especially enjoyed the vampire post. Today’s culture seems to be centered around vampires and their mysterious appearance. It was a really good addition to the blog, taking something so intriguing and including it. It was interesting to learn that Lord Byron had such an affect on the vampire culture. If not for him I might not be reading Twilight today. It is extraordinary that Byron was able to imagine such an exciting and demonic character, especially since it would have been a novel one for the 18th century.

Another thing I liked was the “She Walks In Beauty” post. I thought it was very smart to put a bit of background information about why Lord Byron wrote the poem, along with what it truly meant. That really helped to personify the poet.

      While reading the website saw “The Adventures of Lord Byron” on the blog page, captivated by the title I was surprised to find that the post was a biography of the poet. This post brought Byron to life and was an interesting read. I found it contrasted the other Byron biography well, “Lord Byron’s Biography”, they each had different information yet both contained interesting elements of his life.

      Overall The Lord Byron blog was presented very well. It had good selections of Lord Byron’s life, and works. I learned a lot about the poet simply from reading the very well explained posts. The site was easy to explore and navigate, which is helpful for someone like me who is not familiar with the blogging world. I believe that the group did very well on this blog, and I enjoyed visiting their site.

A young Lord Byron deep in thought

William Blake and His Memorable Career

      William Blake was a British poet, painter, visionary mystic, and engraver, who illustrated and printed his own books. Born in Soho, London on November 28, 1757 where he lived and spent most of his life. Throughout his young childhood years he also claimed to have visions of angles, monks, and God. His parents did not believe him when he would tell them his tales of paranormal activity, but the two observed that he was very different from his peers. Blake had a quite odd upbringing; he left school at the young age of ten, and for five years attended the Henry Pars Drawing Academy. At the age of twelve he began writing poetry and in 1783 printed his first collection of verses “Poetical Sketches”.

      Soon at age fourteen he found the art school to be very costly, this forced him to find a job. Even though he showed a great ability as a poet, his career was an engraver. He worked under engraver James Basire from 1772 to 1784 when he opened his own printing shop. The 80’s were indeed big years for him because in 1782 William Blake married Catherine Boucher, an illiterate woman who he taught to read and write.

      After the printing shop failed Blake had to make a scanty living as an engraver and an illustrator for magazines and books. Soon he created his first book, Songs of Innocence, which he finished in 1789. It is said that Blake created Songs of Innocence because of the visions he had of his brother Robert, after Robert’s death. It was not long before he also finished The Book of Thel and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, two greatly respected works of philosophical ideas. He concluded his poetic works with Songs of Experience in 1794. Blake was influenced by the society he lived in and his disgust with that society, radical religious ideas, and drastic political issues is displayed through Songs of Innocence and Experience.

      Blake was preoccupied with good versus evil. History shows that he never stopped illustrating his philosophical and religious beliefs in his poetry, art, and engravings. Sadly, William Blake died at the age of sixty-nine on August 18, 1827, buried in an unmarked public grave. After his death his works became more prominent and Blake’s name more known. He is one of the most celebrated romantic poets, and his artistic legacy sill lives on today.