Merry Christmas, my dear! I can't visit you today, but that doesn't mean I can't gift you with a few things in spite of geographical locations ... ;)
1."The Boxing Day Ball" (exclusive short story by Rachel Joyce)
Sadly, I don't know whether you've read the book about Harold Fry, which this seems to be a companion piece to ... but I know you like this author, so I thought I'd link you anyway. And it's actually a good story, even if you don't know the background to it (which I didn't, seeing as I haven't read "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" either xD!).
Now, you
know that I’m not a poetry lover. At all. If poems were actual, living beings,
they would probably run for the hills, screaming their heads off, as soon as they saw
me. (Although I have, in recent years, at least managed to make the progression
from poetry hater to being indifferent to it.)
However …
there is this one poem, which sort of
breaks the rules in that I really like it: it’s “The Tyger” by William Blake.
The Tyger
Tyger Tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
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 water'd 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?
I know, I
know – I’m beyond shocked, too. I can’t even really explain why I like it – it’s
just so catchy. “Tyger Tyger, burning bright / In the forests of the night” … I
can just instantly remember it (except for the “forests” – I keep thinking
“darkness”)!
I also like
that the next two lines of the first stanza don’t rhyme: it produces such an
interesting contrast to use the word “symmetry” in the only two lines of the
poem that are not, in fact, symmetrical, seeing as they don’t rhyme!
And then
there’s the very, very vivid imagery of the rest of the poem that I love: “In
what distant deeps or skies / Burnt the fire of thine eyes” and “When the stars
threw down their spears / And water’d heaven with their tears”.
… Gah, I
just love this poem! So, of course I had to find out a bit more about it :P!
Here’s some interesting stuff that I found trawling the internet.
Analysis
First of
all, the poem seems to be largely about the seeming conflict between the idea
of a benevolent God and the reality of a quite a cruel world, filled with
creatures of death such as the tiger. On the one hand, the poem seems to convey
a sense of wonder at the beauty of the tiger (and creation), on the other there
is a certain sense of awe and even fear of it.
Fire plays
an important role in the poem: it’s in the tiger’s fur (“burning bright”), its
eyes (“burnt the fire of thine eyes”) and even its brain (“in what furnace was
thy brain”). Apparently, this is because fire stands for both power,
destruction, but also sacredness – which means that the word in itself encapsulates
the poem’s fundamental conflict (benevolent God vs sadist).
The “fearful
symmetry” could be the tiger’s fur: it’s symmetrical due to its stripes! And “frame”
could mean “to contain”. (à So, I suppose, what the speaker is really
asking is: “Who put the tiger in the tiger?” :P)
Apparently,
the spelling of tiger as “tyger” was extraordinary even in William Blake’s
time, so this may be a further tipping off on the speaker’s part that he
regards the tiger (at least in this poem) as really something very mysterious
and otherworldly.
There is an
added element of mystery in the repetition of the word “tyger": it’s like
an enchantment or a spell. (I certainly feel a little bit bewitched ;)!)
Finally, an
interesting switch from “could” to “dare” occurs in the last stanza. It’s
mostly a repeat of the first one, except for this one little word. What’s
interesting about this is that while in the first stanza the speaker seems to
be questioning the sheer ability of creating something as fearful as a tiger (“What
immortal hand or eye, / Could frame
thy fearful symmetry”), in the last one he seems to be more concerned with the
courage (and perhaps silliness) of the action (“What immortal hand or eye, / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry”). It’s
a more moral question, if you will.
Had enough
of the analysis yet ;)?
Illustrations
Let’s move
on to the really fun stuff then! First, the poem was actually illustrated (I
think by Blake himself, but I’m not a hundred per cent sure …). Here are some
of the illustrations I found and liked:
Readings
You can
listen to a rather beautiful and eerie (which I find quite fitting!) reading by
Tom O’Bedlam here:
I really
like this! It gives me the shivers!
Adaptations
And
finally, someone called Gorden J. L. Ramel wrote a very powerful updated
version of the poem about the fate of the tiger today:
Tiger Tiger Revisited
Tiger tiger fading fast
in the shadow we have cast,
what brave law or business deal
can thy future's safety seal.
What the future, what the hope that humankind may learn to cope with life and maintenance of breath without this need of needless death.
In what sulphurous cauldron groans the mind that lives to sell your bones; and what the moral poverty of those take thy life from thee?
What the learning, what the thought that values lives like yours at naught? What the science or machine where beauty such as yours is seen? Who did he hate who sowed the seed of human ignorance and greed; and can he smile our work to see as we who killed the lamb kill thee.
Tiger tiger fading fast from the present to the past, how can mere humanity so quickly still thy majesty?
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