The Transformation: Then and Now

This book puts emphasis on the transformation of an American citizen into a marine and the importance of sustaining the change. It is imperative because our war fighting ability depends on a lasting transformation not only during the time of the individual’s Marine Corps career but also when he or she returns to their civilian communities.

In the poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," William Blake uses symbolism, tone, and rhyme to advance the theme that God can create good and bad creatures. The poem "The Lamb" was in Blake's "Songs of Innocence," which was published in 1789. "The Tyger," in his "Songs of Experience," was published in 1794. In these contrasting poems he shows symbols of what he calls "the two contrary states of the human soul" (Shilstone 1).

Just like the “lamb” that was born into this world through a virgin and was sacrificed for all mankind, this same “lamb” made us and called us by his name. In his poem "The Lamb," William Blake clearly uses repetition, personification, and symbolism to describe his religious beliefs and how a pure sacrifice is portrayed by a little lamb. Laura Quinney’s book, “William Blake on Self and Soul,” shows the religious side of Blake when it says, “Blake makes this argument in his address “To the Deists,” where he insists “Man must & will have Some Religion; if he has not the Religion of Jesus, he will have the Religion of Satan” (Quinney, 2009). Blake uses his religious view to show us he believes that our creator is the Lamb of God. He distinctively uses the innocence and purity of a little lamb and how its creator clearly takes care of it. The lamb is fed, given water by the stream and a bidden a blessed life.

Allusion is also an important part of this poem because of the way the author uses it to connect to the outside works that may also encourage the reader to think in a certain way that goes along with the themes of the poem. The first allusion, found in lines 7 and 8, are to the Greek gods Icarus and Prometheus. This allusion requires the readers to think about gods and religion, which is a major part of the theme of this poem. Another allusion I see is in line 20, which refers to another one of Blake’s poems, “The Lamb.” This allusion is significant because the speaker asks, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (20) And he wonders whether or not the same creator who made something so gentle and pure could also make such an evil animal. The allusion itself brings the reader to think about the other poems and to contrast the two completely

The Transforming Vision, written by Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton, yearn for a change in the way Christianity is viewed. According to the authors, science, technology and economic growth is what shapes our society, while Christianity stands in the sidelines. The authors aspire to see a change in Christianity where it “may receive social and cultural embodiment.” In the first chapters, Walsh and Middleton explore the reason behind why Christianity of North Americans is so disembodied compared to others. In addition, Transforming Vision explores the different types of worldviews compared to a Christian worldview, or biblical view. Furthermore, it discusses how the different type of world views affects us and if there is any worldview better than another.

There were many transformation periods in the industry. Period 1: 1890-1920, the biggest change during this period was apprenticeship to law school. Law went from occupation to profession. Establishment of ethical codes and disciplinary codes. Minimal levels of what people could charge for their services. Prevented legal advertising, prevented legal clinics, so you couldn’t work with the poor, and prevented free enterprise. The effects of this era are attorneys made more money. Quality of representation was better, the poor suffered, and this leads to second transformation (Dr. Taylor).

Both Gerald Manley Hopkins and William Blake explore the conflicts between one’s opinions and the faith which they devoutly believe. The poems The Garden of Love and Hopkins’ Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord each show the persona doubting the philosophical qualms of life surrounding Catholicism and whether spending “life upon thy cause,” is meaningful. As a child, Blake read the Bible to enhance his reading skills, however developed views correlating to the Swedenborgian church which holds the Catholic church’s views without the institutionalised feeling which Blake despised of in Catholicism. The Garden of Love intertwines his beliefs into the poetry, as depicted with the strong imagery between the vibrant childhood memory of the surroundings in comparison to the older man’s views. However,

Through this, Blake is showing the hypocrisy of religion, a theme commonly shown throughout “Experience.” Throughout “Innocence” a simple, child-like portrayal of religion is explored. This could show Blake as primarily a religious poet as there are common, simple themes running throughout many of his poems in “Innocence.” This simple view of both Christ and religion contrasts the complex metaphors used to represent religion in “Innocence.”

A popular characteristic in many of Blake’s poems is the inclusion of biblical allusions to convey meaning. In his poem “A Poison Tree”, Blake uses anaphora, diction, and symbol to allow biblical allusions that depicts the evil that man is capable to come into being. Anaphora is the usage of the same word or phrase at the beginning of every consecutive line. In stanza one, the word ‘I’ begins every line, and later on the word ‘and’ is used seven times to signify the start of some of the lines. The poem is organized in a way that immediately starts off using anaphora and since anaphora is mainly

The poems in the Poetical Sketches contains criticisms and protests the cruel events taking place in the world. Likewise, Blake uses his imagination and artistic abilities to write a poem and plant a picture in other

First, Blake repeats some form of “Mercy Pity Peace and Love” six times in his five quatrain poem. Then he specifically claims that God is present in every “heathen, turk or jew.” As members of the Abrahamic faiths, Turks, presumably Muslim, and Jews believe in the same God Blake does. Moreover, his inclusion of heathens demonstrates his love for all people, Christian or pagan. Through his use of the words “our” and “all” Blake makes it clear that, in his eyes, God loves every man woman and child. Finally, Blake employs an imperfect rhyme scheme, rhyming only two lines in each quatrain. The poem would not be as powerful if Blake had forced a rhyme. This poem, like nature, is beautiful despite its imperfections, which can thus be extended to humans. Blake’s direct interpretation of nature’s truth is that people are not perfect, but God still loves and is a part of every

The first stanza had a set of word choice that gave a question that was expanded upon by each stanza following the first. This question was: What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? (lines 3-4). It is from that moment that the poem eludes to a being above through the use of the word “immortal”, and considering the others works done by Blake it can be assured that this being that is eluded to as a crafter is God. The word choice gave way to another intriguing piece of evidence for Romanticism and that was the use of the words “fearful” and “symmetry” together.

The poem is depicting heaven and hell when it talks about the “deeps” and the “skies”. When Blake talks about the “deeps” and the “skies” it makes the the poem have a dreamy magical feeling. When the poem is about a tiger and then the poet talks about heaven and hell it makes the reader envision the forest a bright tyger and objects coming down from the skies and from the ground. Also imagery is used when Blake declares “the stars threw down their spears”. This depicts that the heavens are throwing down objects at the lion. This gives the poem a scared feeling and a magical component because the heavens can not literally throw things down to earth so the must be using magic or dreaming that the heavens can do that. Another use of imagery is when the author refers to the “lamb” making the reader think about children's bible stories and pictures that depict a lion or a lamb. In this case the reader can make the connection that the tyger is the lion and in the bible story the lion is the king of the world or God. When the poet changes the main characters meaning or characteristics it allows the reader's imagination to explore and dream up what the story is actually meaning and relate it to their whimsical childhood stories.

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.

William Blake was known to be a mystic poet who was curious about the unknowns in the world, and strived to find all the answers. Does God create both gentle and fearful creatures? As a questioned asked in the poem “The Tyger” William Blake pondered on why an all-powerful, loving God would create a vicious predator, the Tiger, after he created a sweet, timid, harmless animal, the lamb. The theme of this poem surrounds this idea of why the same creator would create both a destructive and gentle animal. This issue is brought up and discussed through rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism.