Romantic Poets (I)

Learning Objectives Romantic poetry: main features* and representative figures Main idea/Images/Themes/stylistic features of each poem

Main Characteristics of Romantic Poetry 1)Imagination 2)Emotions 3)Nature 4)Pastoral Life 5)Symbolism 6)Individualism

Early Romantic Poetry(Pre-romanticism: late 18th century) Representatives William Blake Robert Burns

Blake’s life and career got no education in school At 10, in Henry Par’s drawing school and exposed to Greek and Roman sculpture; at 14, he worked as an engraver and learned how to make copperplates; an artist with a style of his own: combined visual art with literature; never prosperous in his lifetime

Blake’s Etchings(蚀刻画) The lover’s whirlwind For Dante’s work The great red dragon and the woman clothed with Sun for the Bible

The Good and the Bad Angels

William Blake 1757-1827 Elohim creating Adam 1795

Blake: major works Poetic collections: Songs of Innocence (1789) Songs of Experience (1794) William Blake, Self Portrait

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON WILLIAM BLAKE’S “THE LAMB” AND “THE TYGER”

Lamb http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/RNb6PcS2z Eg Tyger

Little lamb, who made thee. 小羊羔谁创造了你 Dost thou know who made thee Little lamb, who made thee? 小羊羔谁创造了你 Dost thou know who made thee? 你可知道谁创造了你 Gave thee life, and bid thee feed 给你生命，哺育着你 By the stream and o'er the mead; 在溪流旁，在青草地 Gave thee clothing of delight, 给你穿上好看的衣裳 Softest clothing, woolly, bright; 最软的衣裳毛茸茸多漂亮； Gave thee such a tender voice, 给你这样温柔的声音， Making all the vales rejoice? 让所有的山谷都开心； Little lamb, who made thee? 小羔羊谁创造了你 Dost thou know who made thee? 你可知道谁创造了你；

Little lamb, I'll tell thee, 小羔羊我要告诉你， Little lamb, I'll tell thee: 小羔羊我要告诉你； He is called by thy name, 他的名字跟你的一样， For He calls Himself a Lamb. 他也称他自己是羔羊； He is meek, and He is mild; 他又温顺又和蔼， He became a little child. 他变成了一个小小孩 I a child, and thou a lamb, 我是个小孩你是羔羊 We are called by His name. 咱俩的名字跟他一样。 Little lamb, God bless thee! 小羔羊上帝保佑你 Little lamb, God bless thee! 小羔羊上帝保佑你。

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 老虎！老虎！黑夜的森林中       In the forests of the night, 燃烧着的煌煌的火光，       What immortal hand or eye 是怎样的神手或天眼       Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 造出了你这样的威武堂堂？ In what distant deeps or skies 你炯炯的两眼中的火       Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 燃烧在多远的天空或深渊？       On what wings dare he aspire? 他乘着怎样的翅膀搏击？       What the hand dare seize the fire? 用怎样的手夺来火焰？ And what shoulder and what art 又是怎样的膂力，怎样的技巧，       Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 把你的心脏的筋肉捏成？       And, when thy heart began to beat, 当你的心脏开始搏动时，       What dread hand and what dread feet? 使用怎样猛的手腕和脚胫？

What the hammer? what the chain? 是怎样的槌？怎样的链子 In what furnace was thy brain? 在怎样的熔炉中炼成你的脑筋？ What the anvil? what dread grasp 是怎样的铁砧？怎样的铁臂 Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 敢于捉着这可怖的凶神？ When the stars threw down their spears, 群星投下了他们的投枪。 And watered heaven with their tears, 用它们的眼泪润湿了穹苍， Did He smile His work to see? 他是否微笑着欣赏他的作品？Did He who made the lamb make thee? 他创造了你，也创造了羔羊？ Tyger, tyger, burning bright 老虎！老虎！黑夜的森林中 In the forests of the night, 燃烧着的煌煌的火光， What immortal hand or eye 是怎样的神手或天眼 Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 造出了你这样的威武堂堂？

What do they have in common? Subject Theme connect the animals' origins to address a greater theological question about the Creator's role in nature Form

Form/structure Six quatrains in rhymed couplets hammering beat The Lamb The Tyger two large stanzas of five couplets each Song-like, lyrical quality Question-Answer Six quatrains in rhymed couplets hammering beat Rhetorical Question

Tone/atmosphere Bright, clear Gentle pastoral Dark Powerful fearful,menacing

Major image Mild Meek Innocent Simple Gentle joyful Beautiful Powerful Lamb Tyger (which parts of its body are mentioned?) Mild Meek Innocent Simple Gentle joyful Beautiful Powerful Frightening Complex inscrutable mysterious destructive Evil

Other Images: What do they imply? Nature Stream, mead, valley Child Smithy anvil, hammer, chain, furnace, frame

Themes The Lamb The Tyger confidence in simple Christian faith and innocent acceptance of its teachings the complexity of creation God’s power the inscrutability of divine will

Retorical device Refrain Apostrophe symbolism Rhetorical question allusion repetition

How do the poems work harmoniously to convey a similar theme or message?

God’s power of creation A perspective on unexplainable universe that includes the good and clear as well as the terrible and inscrutable. A perspective on Blake himself: stands somewhere between/outside innocence and experience

Does the principle behind the two poems apply to artistic creation or authorship as well as to God’s creation of the world?