William Blake Poetry Analysis Religious Influences free essay sample

He transmits the idea that two states are required in order to fully embrace human spirit. First, one must have a sense of innocence, to fully be open to learning, with the awe of a small child. Next, they must contain the sense of experience, which allows one to recognize both good and evil, in order to begin the process of redemption. This idea is enforced in his works The Tyger, The Lamb, and Proverbs of Heaven and Hell. William Blake’s poem known as The Tyger, focuses its attention on a series of questions regarding creation, specifically the creation of the tiger, a scary yet beautiful creature. This poem uses lots of ambiguous language that asks questions in nearly every line. An example of the questions this poem asks include â€Å"In what distant deeps or skies/ Burnt the fire of thine eyes? † (The Tyger 6-7). These lines question who and where could one have created such bright eyes of the tiger. We will write a custom essay sample on William Blake Poetry Analysis: Religious Influences or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fire is used to convey a sense of fear, for fire represents destruction. William Blake raises the question in his poem, â€Å"Who is the creator? † (Derek). William Blake’s poem makes many references to Mythology, one example regarding the book of redemption, specifically the story of Lucifer and his angels, which describes the war in heaven. Derek) This is shown in these lines: â€Å"When the stars threw down their spears/And water’d heaven with their tears,† (The Tyger Lines 17-18). Line 17 references the war between Lucifer and his Angels in heaven, the stars referring to the Angels in Heaven, and the spears they threw down, while line 18 references the tears shed by the angels for Lucifer’s angels for being cast out of heaven Guerra pg. 2 because they would not listen to God. The poem also references Greek mythology in lines 7 which references the story of Daedelus and Icarus, as well as in line 8 which references the Greek God Prometheus (Dere k). All of these religious references make it more difficult to determine whom William Blake or the narrator believes to be The Tiger, and the tone of the poem seems to be fearful yet amazed by the creator described in this poem. It describes the state of experience, where the narrator believed he had all the answers, and is now unsure (Derek). Unlike the ambiguous poem The Tyger by William Blake, The Lamb, the previous counterpart to The Tyger, is much more straight-forward in its religious connection. One must contain a state of innocence to truly appreciate this poem, in which the narrator is a small child. It does not ask many questions, and the only questions asked are immediately answered by the child, so the only difficult in it is having the state of innocence to appreciate it. Blake shows us that innocence is not dependency or ignorance but a state that brings us a necessary perception of spiritual vision (Bryan). Blake shows us that the human self, the natural world, and the divine kingdom are all intertwined. The lamb represents the unity, the creator, and the sustainer (Bryan). The lamb represents Jesus Christ, as shown in The Lamb, â€Å"He is called by thy name,/ For He calls himself a Lamb,†(The Lamb lines 13-14). This is a reference to Jesus Christ and his association as The Lamb of God, therefore suggesting the narrator’s belief in religion, specifically Christianity. The narrator is aware of all these realities at all times, and it brings him peace and happiness that he must express (Bryan). This poem’s simplicity with the innocence of a child, attempts to bring the reader into seeing Blake’s â€Å"Divine Vision† (Bryan). The third example of William Blake‘s poems relating to religion is Proverbs of Heaven and Hell. It’s central idea is raising our own perceptions and triumphing over nature through nature. Blake suggests that there is no passive good, except with the angels identifying good and evil. He suggests hindrance and not action is evil whether one inhibits one or the other (Bloom). An example of one of the proverbs relating to their overall theme, â€Å"Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires,† (Proverbs of Heaven and Hell). This Guerra pg. 3 Line directly means to nurse an unacted desire is feeding a monster (Bloom). Bloom goes on to describe many of the individual proverbs and their hidden meaning, The stable may be either the home of the tamed â€Å"horses of instruction† of the Proverb (Foster Damon’s suggestion) or simply the stable of Christ’s birth, ironically leading into the grander structure of the Church. The vault is emblematic of Christ’s burial. In the resurrection of the body Christ passes out of the vault, but the Angel and Blake go to the vault’s other end which aptly leads into a mill, mechanical symbol of reductive reason. Once through the mill, and we are in the winding cavern of the fallen mind, in which any groping yields a way that is both downward and tedious, until we hang with Blake and the Angel over the abyss of nature, the unimaginative chaos of reductive intellect. This piece of Bloom’s analysis tells us how the lines of the poem relate to several religious references, the staple of Christ’s birth, his burial, and then how it all ties back into Blake’s theme about inactiveness. Proverbs of Heaven and Hell is a rather complex and long poem, with several messages in each stanza, but it does not change the fact that it holds many religious references, and how they all tie in to Blake’s beliefs regarding the human condition and spirit. Religion is an important aspect of daily life here for us; it gives us comfort and helps us answer the questions we otherwise cannot answer. It helps us promote order so we can please our divine figures. William Blake’s poetry was only made possible because of the passionate beliefs he held to himself regarding his religious beliefs which also lead to his beliefs about human spirit. Without those beliefs, his poetry would not be nonexistent. Guerra pg. 4 Bibliography Page 1. Aubrey, Derek. In an essay for â€Å"Poetry for Students†, Gale, 1997. 2. Bloom, Harold. Bloom on The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. In Bloom, Harold, ed. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Blooms Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 1987. (Updated 2006. ) Blooms Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www. fofweb. com/activelink2. asp? ItemID=WE54amp;SID=5amp;iPin=MCI027amp;SingleRecord=True (accessed March 22, 2013). 3. Furr, Derek. In an essay for, â€Å"Poetry for Students†, Gale, 1997.