Critical Appreciation Of The Poem The Divine Image

William Blake’s most famous poem and has led to several different interpretations by critics and other poets. The firat and last quatrain are the same except for when the word "could" becomes to "dare".

In order to appreciate a poem properly, care must be taken to analyze and understand many different facets of the work. Poems are often very complex and require a great deal of thought in order to arrive at the intended meaning. At the very least, three particular items of information must be uncovered during the reading of poetry. An experienced reader of poetry will always determine the identity of the speaker, the occasion of the speech, and the central idea of the poem.

The study of any poem often begins with its imagery. Being the centralized idea behind the power of poetry, imagery isn’t always there to just give a mental picture when reading the poem, but has other purposes. Imagery can speak to the five senses using figurative language as well as help create a specific emotion that the author is trying to infuse within the poem. It helps convey a complete human experience a very minimal amount of words. In this group of poems the author uses imagery to show that humanity is characterized as lost, sorrowful and regretful, but nature is untainted by being free of mistakes and flaws and by taking time to take in its attributes it can help humans have a sense of peace, purity, and joy, as well as a sense of

His love for poetry is one element of this poem which draws you in, and catches you in its warm enveloping glove. In some poems, one has to dig and pry to understand the meaning. This is not a poem of such nature. The interpretation begins when you sit back and enjoy the imagery. The poem begins and ends with a tranquil image of a conversation as the sun sets one summer evening. Later he paints a wonderful image with the moon rising, and sun setting, casting a “blue-green” hue across the quite reflecting sky.

I find this poem to be interesting because the ideas and meaning of the poem are simple, but they can easily be interpreted in another meaning. This poem did not have the effect on me that I thought it would have, although I did think it was fascinating to read and listen to. The words seem to blend together, and it makes it smooth to hear. The diction is simple and easily understood, but the some of the concepts may not make sense the first time. I had to read the poem multiple times to attempt to grasp the gist of the

Blake wanted people to read this poem and understand his concept of questioning God, for how could God make something so innocent and pure as the Lamb and then in turn make something so evil? The situation is very similar to the

Blake conveys the theme of another's actions being the reason for sadistic tendencies through characterization as well. The poem “A Poison Tree” tells of a man whose anger festers until he

Through diction, figurative language and imagery, and syntax, William Blake conveys an intense and curious tone, revealing the doubt of whether or not human power was given by a higher being. The author, William Blake, uses connotation to make his audience understand what the true subject of the poem that he refers to is. For example, the word, “tyger,” in this poem is not specifying an actual tiger, but is used to represent humans. When Blake says, “thy fearful symmetry,” he is giving the tyger the characteristics of strength and power. Humans, as well, are strong and have the potential to create a big impact on the world, just as tigers do in the wild. Overall, the main focus of this poem is who the creator of the tyger is. This is supported with “And what shoulder, & what art/ Could twist the sinews of thy heart” and “On what wings dare he aspire.”

Once the reader begins to really analyze the poem it is apparent that it was not written in a very complex or thought provoking manner. The poem itself is written with an ABAB rhyme scheme and without much

William Blake was one of several transitionary writers between the Age of Reason and the Age of Romanticism. He saw the poverty and suffering that surrounded him and was a supporter of the French Revolution in its early days. He could not accept the neoclassical idea of a stable, orderly hierarchy in the universe, but instead viewed existence as a blending of opposite poles - good and evil, innocence and experience, heaven and hell. His magnum opus Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience is the epitome of how his work embodied his beliefs.

It was known that Blake had a pleasant and peaceful childhood. His poems relate to his background because it was said that Blake was once considered mad for his, “idiosyncratic views.” This means that when he was young, he had many visions of extraordinary images. It was rumored that at such a young age Blake would, “see a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.” His parents were not amused of such story and then other people began to realize he wasn’t kidding about his visions and they also realized that Blake had a special talent within

Initially this romantic poem is an experience poem that Blake has written. How it has experience is that it shows what the child and children that he is with has gone through. He's not innocent he has seen the cruelness of the world, the fact that he was sold to work cleaning chimneys shows experience. He and the others have to live the hardships of working to survive getting up early before the sun rises and get started on cleaning the chimneys all around. There innocence was taken away from them as soon as

William Blake was a visionary; although his work was often misunderstood during his lifetime, posthumously he is regarded as a very influential poet, artist, and engraver. Blake was scarcely noticed in his lifetime, and when he was he was considered mad, or called “an unfortunate lunatic.” Born in 1757 in London, England, Blake’s thinking was ahead of his time. He did not have much of a formal education, and gained his knowledge from his mother and apprenticeships.

Blake wrote these same lines in his poem The Divine Image. In his innocence, "…Mercy has a human heart,/ Pity a human face:/ And love the human form divine,/ And Peace the human dress." This represents the acts and feelings associated with Heaven. To be with God and obtain peace, humans must show mercy, pity, and love for others. That is the direct opposite of the secrecy of cruelty, jealousy, and terror humans begin to feel.

Blake uses traditional symbols of angels and devils, animal imagery, and especially images of fire and flame to: 1) set up a dual world, a confrontation of opposites or "contraries" which illustrate how the rules of Reason and Religion repress and pervert the basic creative energy of humanity, 2) argues for apocalyptic transformation of the self "through the radical regeneration of each person's own power to imagine" (Johnson/Grant, xxiv), and 3) reconstructs Man in a new image, a fully realized Man who is both rational and imaginative, partaking of his divinity through creativity. The form of the poem consists of "The Argument," expositions on his concepts of the "contraries" and of "expanded perception" which are both interspersed with "Memorable Fancies" that explicate and enlarge on his expositions, and concludes with "A Song of Liberty," a prophecy of a future heaven on earth.