square是什么意思William_Blake_The_Tiger。。。。。。。。。

2021年1月19日发(作者：跑水)
Type of Work and Year of Publication



Tiger,
originally
called

Tyger,
is
a
lyric
poem

focusing
on
the
nature
of
God
and
his
creations. It
was published in 1794 in a collection entitled
Songs of Experience
. Modern anthologies
often print
entitled
Songs of Innocence
.


Meter

The poem is in trochaic tetrameter with catalexis at the end of each line. Here is an explanation of these
technical terms:




Tetrameter Line
: a poetry line usually with eight syllables.

Trochaic Foot
: A pair of syllables--a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

Catalexis
: The absence of a syllable in th
e final foot in a line. In Blake’s poem, an unstressed
syllable
is
absent
in
the
last
foot
of
each
line.
Thus,
every
line
has
seven
syllables,
not
the
conventional eight.

The
following
illustration
using
the
first
two
lines
of
the
poem
demonstrates
tetrameter
with
four
trochaic feet, the last one catalectic:



. ....
1
...........
2
...............3
..................
4


TI
ger,
..
|
..
TI
ger,
..
|
..
BURN
ing
..
|
..
BRIGHT

.....
1
..............
2
......... ......
3
...............
4


IN
the
..
|
..
FOR
ests
..
|
..
OF
the
..
|
..
NIGHT

Notice
that
the
fourth
foot
in
each
line
eliminates
the
conventional
unstressed
syllable
(catalexis).
However, this irregularity in the trochaic pattern does not harm the rhythm of the poem. In
fact, it may actually enhance it, allowing each line to end with an accented syllable that seems to mimic
the beat of the maker’s hammer on the anvil. For a detailed discussion of meter and the various types of
feet,
click here
.

.


Structure and Rhyme Scheme


The
poem
consists
of
six
quatrains.
(A
quatrain
is
a
four-line
stanza.)
Each
quatrain
contains
two
couplets. (A couplet is a pair of rhyming lines). Thus we have a 24-line poem with 12 couplets and 6
stanzas
–
a neat, balanced package. The question in the final stanza repeats (except for one word,
dare
)
the
wording
of
the
first
stanza,
perhaps
suggesting
that
the
question
Blake
raises
will
continue
to
perplex thinkers ad infinitum.


Examples Figures of Speech and Allusions


Alliteration
:
T
iger,
t
iger,
b
urning
b
right (line 1);
f
rame thy
f
ear
f
ul symmetry? (line 4)

Metaphor
: Comparison of the tiger and his eyes to fire.



Anaphora
:
Repetition
of
what

at
the
beginning
of
sentences
or
clauses.
Example:
What
dread
hand
and what dread feet?
/
What the hammer? what the chain?


Allusion
:
Immortal hand or eye
: God or Satan


Allusion
:
Distant deeps or skies
: hell or heaven


Symbols


The Tiger
: Evil (or Satan)

Distant Deeps
: Hell

Skies
: Heaven


The Lamb
: Goodness (or God)




Themes


The Existence of Evil


.......
“The Tiger” presents a question that embodies the central theme: Who created the tiger? Was it the
kind and loving God who made the lamb? Or was it Satan?
Blake presents his question in Lines 3 and
4:


What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Blake
realizes,
of
course,
that
God
made
all
the
creatures
on
earth.
However,
to
express
his
bewilderment
that
the
God
who
created
the
gentle
lamb
also
created
the
terrifying
tiger,
he
includes
Satan as a possible creator while raising his rhetorical questions, notably the one he asks in Lines 5 and
6:


In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thy eyes?


Deeps
appears to refer to hell and
skies
to heaven. In either case, there would be fire--the fire of hell or
the fire of the stars.


.......
Of course, there can be no gainsaying that the tiger symbolizes evil, or the incarnation of evil, and
that
the
lamb
(Line
20)
represents
goodness,
or
Christ.
Blake's
inquiry
is
a
variation
on
an
old
philosophical
and
theological
question:
Why
does
evil
exist
in
a
universe
created
and
ruled
by
a
benevolent
God?
Blake
provides
no
answer.
His
mission
is
to
reflect
reality
in
arresting
images.
A
poet’s first purpose, after all, is to present the
world and its denizens in language that stimulates the
aesthetic
sense;
he
is
not
to
exhort
or
moralize.
Nevertheless,
the
poem
does
stir
the
reader
to
deep
thought.
Here
is
the
tiger,
fierce
and
brutal
in
its
quest
for
sustenance;
there
is
the
lamb,
meek
and
gentle in its quest for survival. Is it possible that the same God who made the lamb also made the tiger?
Or was the tiger the devil's work?


The Awe and Mystery of Creation and the Creator


The poem is more about the creator of the tiger than it is about the tiger intself. In contemplating the
terrible ferocity and awesome symmetry of the tiger, the speaker is at a loss to explain how the same
God
who
made
the
lamb
could
make
the
tiger.
Hence,
this
theme:
humans
are
incapable
of
fully
understanding the mind of God and the mystery of his handiwork.

.