Friday, August 23, 2013

Is "The Tyger" contemporary?

“The Tyger” is one of Blake’s best-known poems, to be
contrasted with “The Lamb”. The large predator as a symbol of evil is readily
understood; our tradition abounds with fearsome images of wolves, foxes, bears, and so
on. Some readers today, newly enlightened and firmly aware of the ecological need for
the preservation of the predator-prey relationship and also of the endangered state of
the world’s predators, regret Blake’s choice. It is the burning aspect that empowers the
tyger. If one looks at the orange stripes and yellow stripes as the tygre runs through
tall reads makes the grass seem to be burning and on fire. The use of fire as also a
symbol of evil associated with the devil is common today. In all other respects, too,
Blake’s poem is timely.

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