Sensationalist
The Tyger by William Blake
The Poem the Tyger by William Blake his collection of Songs of Innocence and Experiences provides a moral critique of Protestant Christianity and specifically the theological question in the creation motivation. This poem is the partner of William Blake’s earlier poem the Lamb which is also based upon the Christian theme. His poems show his belief of the existence of evil and the desire of God to punish what he created which is the malice of creation. The poem The Tyger is an unapologetic poem which shows different problems which later became the theologically and philosophical cornerstone of his artistry in Romanticism.
The French revolution and the Enlightenment age are the main themes associated with romanticism in the process of rectifying the traditional poetry cannon and adopting new alternatives and protesting outwardly towards the status quo of the time. In the poem the Tyger, we can say that Blake is one of the perfect examples of the Romanticism genre categorized to be rebellious in questioning and even attacking the various principles of the theology of Protestants. In his work we see an artistic rebellion in writing the happy and peaceful illusions of Christian faith which is child like and he questions the various aspects of the Protestants and Judeo-Christian theology and the role it has played in the society.
The poem the Tyger provides a theological examination into on which the creator is of such a powerful and fiery creature the Tyger. In line 3-4 the poet says,“ What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?” in this question Blake is asking what is the devil or God who created the tiger which is an awe-inspiring and terrible beast and if not the devil who of the Protestant God created an animal with unholy and dreadful malicious. This is the line which puts across Blake’s the interesting philosophical question which can be derived from understanding the poet’s deeper meaning and his intense genius.
Blake in his introductory line what immortal hand or eye shows the poets belief that the tiger is a creation of some divine entity based on a creative and intelligent design. Romanticism focuses on the power of imagination which strengthens the aspect under consideration in both metaphysical and religious aspects. In Blake Poem we see it puts an emphasis on the religious aspects in creatively questioning the Christian theology. He manages to question the various aspects of religion which acts as mechanistic explanation denied by human in innermost conviction.
Like Coleridge, Blake takes the idealist notion in interpreting the universe. This is because the mind is the governing factor and the central point of establishing the truth. Unlike Locke’s conceptualization of the universe, the romantic poet belief that the mind is the only source of divine and spiritual energy which is also divine. The sensationalist belief that the states of the world know what we know only through or perception. Unlike pure reason, intuition is a mental characteristics derived from human imagination. A third concept is the transcendentalism which is a religious belief which explains that one can only go to the ideal realm world beyond the purely sensual worlds trough channels of rationality. For the romantics imagination is the main aspect in displaying what they belief in and what they think about their individual lives and the surround they are in.
Like the other romantic poets Blake, rejects the view of life in mechanistic terms but instead preferred romanticism perception of viewing life a type which is unique and in content change and growth. To them life is not like a machine which is in constant run. Another characteristic which the poem the Tyger has as a romantic poem is the description the author uses to describe the horror and the beauty of the natural world. The poet says when the stars threw down their spears and watered heaven with their tears”. For Blake the stars act as a representation of objective science and cold reasons which are aspects weaker than the love of the moon and the inspiration of the sun.
Generally, Blake like all the big five romantic poets knew their work was to develop a transcendental order through their imagination which gives an explanation of the accounts of the world and its appearance not simply in terms of things which are visible but the effects of these physical aspects on human life. Based on this reality, it cannot be said to be simply spiritual but Blake manages to provide an illusion which is dependent of which not in any way related to Hegel’s perspective on spirit.
Reference
Blake W (2011) the Tyger. Retrieved from http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/tyger.html
On May 31st 2011
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