Sonnet 18
By William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines
And often is his gold complexion dimed;
And every fair form fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade.
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe,or eyes can see,
So long lives this,and this gives life to thee.
十四行诗（其十八）
威廉·莎士比亚
我能把你比作夏日吗？
尽管你更可爱、更温和；
夏日的狂风可能会摧残五月的花儿，
季节的限制又减少了可拥有的日光；
天空的巨眼有时过于灼热，
常使自身的辉煌无故湮没；
每一种美都会消逝，
不管愿意或是无奈；
然而你这盛夏将永存不朽，
连你所有的美都不会褪去；
死神不忍逼近，
生命只会长存；
只要人类能呼吸，能看见；
我的诗就会存在，而你的生命也会延续。
Sonnet 18 is absolutely one of the most famous sonnets of Shakespeare. Almost every English learner can recite some lines of it either for appreciation or pleasure as both the thematic feature and artistic feature shine brightly and attractively. In the following,I will illustrate my understanding of this sonnet in these two aspects.
Firstly,something about the sonnet’s thematic feaure.
The first two lines ,in the form of a question and an assertive statement, show the poet’s idea of comparing his beloved with a summer’s day and also point out that the beloved person is more beautiful and less extreme than summer. It is understandable that summer is chosen as the comparison target because it is lovely and pleasant. While the next six lines describe the less pleasant aspects of summer:the too stong wind,the extreme hot weather as well as the easy
disappearance of all beauties. The ninth line takes up the comparison with summer again: summer has by now become the summer of life. The comparison turns into a contrast by referring back to the seventh. The poet's assurance becomes even firmer in lines eleven and twelve, which contain a promise that death will be conquered that the beloved one’s spirit and life will surely be eternal.The last two lines furthur emphasize the poet’s belief that the eternity of spirit and virtue of his beloved by pointing out the poem’s eternal function and existence.
With this arrangement of structure and content,the poet gives this sonnet two thematic meanings. The primary meaning is simply a statement to praise the beauty of the beloved one. But the more important and deep one is the poet’s thought that the power of the poem which can defy time and last forever. Its double themes is one distinguishing feature of the sonnet.
Secondly,the analysis of this sonnet’s artistic feature.
It contains 14 lines.We can easily observe that the ends of line 1 and line 3 have the end rhyme:/ei/,line 2 and line 4 rhyme with /eit/.And these four lines form a quatrain. The same form is used in the second quatrain from line 5 to line 8,the third quatrain from line 9 to line 12. However，the last two lines have their own form,as they have the end
rhyme:/i:/Each line in this sonnet is in iambic pentameter which means each line has five feet, usually an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable.For example,we can divide the first line into five independent feet as
“Shall I / compare / thee to/ a sum / mer’s day?”with accents on shall,com,thee,a,mer respectively.
We can also find some repetitions of the same words in the beginning of several lines,such as the “And” used in the line 6 and 7,the “Nor”in line 10 and 11,the “so long”in line 13 and 14. The alliteration also exists in this sonnet.Both make the sonnet’s tone much more melodious.
Some figures of speech are also in use like simile and personification. We can see the sun is regarded as “the eye of heaven” which is a simile. We can find the word “his” used to describe the sun and the death which gives them life as the illustration of the use of personification. This makes the images the poet points out linked to each other and vividly form the whole imagery.
To make a general conclusion of its stylistic feature,this sonnet is a typical Shakespearian sonnet with fourteen lines in iambic pentameter, including three quatrains and one couplet with the rhyme scheme ababcdcdefefgg. Besides this, sonnet 18 is in use of alliteration and figures of speech which add more beauty to the tonality of the poem. That’s all my understanding of the distinctive features of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 from thematic and stylistic perspectives.
sonnet29 william shakespeare
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes，当我时运不济又遭人冷眼
I all alone beweep my outcast state，只有独自流泪这被弃的境遇
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries，又用那徒劳的哭喊去搅扰冷漠的老天 And look upon myself and curse my fate，对影自怜 咒怨命运
wishing me like to one more rich in hope，想象自己如某人般前程远大
Featured like him， like him with friends possessed，又或似他一表人才 盛友如云
Desiring this man's art， and that man's scope，艳羡这人的学问 那人的的度量
With what I most enjoy contented least；于自己最自得之处却最不满意
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising，但在这自轻自贱的想法里
Haply I think on thee——and then my state，倘若一想起你——我的心怀呵
Like to the lark at break of day arising便如同初晓的云雀 冲天而起
From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate；离了那阴霾大地 在天门里唱起颂曲 For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings，因你的纯爱赐予我如此丰盈追忆 That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 即便与国王调换际遇 我也嗤之以鼻 Summary
Resenting his bad luck, the poet envies the successful art of others and rattles
off an impressive catalogue of the ills and misfortunes of his life. His depression is derived from his being separated from the young man, even more so because he envisions the youth in the company of others while the poet is \"all alone.\" Stylistically, Sonnet 29 is typically Shakespearean in its form. The first eight lines, which begin with \"When,\" establish a conditional argument and show the poet's frustration with his craft. The last six lines, expectedly beginning in line 9 with \"Yet\" — similar to other sonnets' \"But\" — and resolving the conditional argument, present a splendid image of a morning lark that \"sings hymns at heaven's gate.\" This image epitomizes the poet's delightful memory of his friendship with the youth and compensates for the misfortunes he has lamented.
赏析This is one of shakespeare's more ambiguous sonnets :one does not know who the speaker is referring to or if the word \"love\"in this sonnet refers to a romantic love or a platonic love.
The whole poem expresses the changes of the author's inner feelings,which are from disappoint to hopeful,from negative to positive ,from desperate to attectionate ,from self-abased to confident. discloses the desire of appetite ,lust and power and proposes that appetite is the basic desire ,lust has its own duality ,the desire for power is a danger and finally the paper gives a way to deal with the desires.
It is a poem which helps us sense the greatness of love,which is the center of his life,the sunshine on a cloudy day.
按：《伦敦1802》是一首充满节奏感的十四行诗，诗人以第二人称的口气对已故的诗人约翰·弥尔顿倾吐心声。英国诗人弥尔顿（1608-1674），因作品《失乐园》而广为知晓。诗人一边赞美弥尔顿，一边不满于英国社会的现实问题。诗人认为英国曾经是一个有着幸福、宗教、骑士、亲情、艺术和文学的伟大国家，而现在这些美誉已丧失。诗人形容现代的英国像一方沼泽，人们自私，必须用“礼仪，美德，自由和权力”进行教导。诗人赞美弥尔顿，把他比着自然景物，如星辰，大海和天空。因为华兹华斯崇尚大自然，所以这是诗人对弥尔顿最高的赞誉。
London 1802
by William Wordsworth
Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancientEnglish dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay
伦敦1802
威廉·华兹华斯 诗/黎历译
弥尔顿！你应该生活在此刻：
英格兰需要你，一个流水淤滞而成
的沼泽地：祭坛，利剑，豪笔，
炉边，无穷无尽的巨厅和亭台，
已丧失古时英国人追求
内心幸福的赋秉。我们是自私的人类;
哦！抚养我们，回到我们中间;
并赐予我们礼仪，美德，自由和权力。
你的灵魂像一颗遥远的星星：
你的声音像大海那样的雄浑：
似裸露天空般的纯洁，庄严而无拘，
你同样在生活的甬道上
快乐虔诚地跋涉；然而
琐碎之事你也能尽心。
Analysis
\"London, 1802\" is a sonnet with a rhyme scheme of abbaabbacddece.
The poem is written in the second person and addresses the late poet John Milton, who lived from 1608–1674 and is most famous for having written Paradise
Lost.
The poem has two main purposes, one of which is to pay homage to Milton by saying that he can save the entirety of England with his nobility and virtue.
The other purpose of the poem is to draw attention to what Wordsworth feels are the problems with English society.
According to Wordsworth, England was once a great place of happiness, religion, chivalry, art, and literature, but at the present moment those virtues have been lost.
Wordsworth can only describe modern England as a swampland, where people are selfish and must be taught about things like \"manners, virtue, freedom, power.\"
Notice that Wordsworth compliments Milton by comparing him to things found in nature, such as the stars, the sea, and \"the heavens.\" For Wordsworth, being likened to nature is the highest compliment possible.
\"London, 1802\" is a poem by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. In the poem Wordsworth castigates the English people as stagnant and selfish, and eulogises seventeenth-century poet John Milton.
Composed in 1802, \"London, 1802\" was published for the first time in Poems,
in Two Volumes (1807).
Structure and synopsis
Wordsworth begins the poem by wishing that Milton were still alive, for \"England hath need of thee.\" This is because it is his opinion that England has stagnated morally by comparison to Milton's period. To this end, Wordsworth pleads for Milton to rather messianically \"raise us up, return to us again; / And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.\"
In the six subsequent lines (the sestet) following the first eight lines (the octave), Wordsworth explains why Milton could improve the English condition. Milton's soul, he explains, was as bright and noble as a star and \"dwelt apart\" from the crowd, not feeling the urge to conform to norms. Milton's voice resembled \"the sea\disdained the ordinary nature of life, but instead \"travel[ed] on life's common way\remaining happy, pure (cheerful godliness), and humble (taking the \"lowliest duties\" on himself).
\"London, 1802\" reveals both Wordsworth's moralism and his growing conservatism.[2] Wordsworth frequently sought to \"communicate natural morality to his readers\" through his poetry.[2] In this sonnet, he urges morality and selflessness to his readers, criticising the English for being stagnant and selfish, for lacking \"manners, virtue, [and] freedom.\" But he also refers to \"inward happiness\" as a natural English right, or \"dower,\" and asks Milton to bestow \"power\" as well as
virtue on the English. These are among Wordsworth's \"few explicitly nationalistic verses—shades, perhaps, of the conservatism that took hold in his old age.\"[2]
While it is common, and perhaps correct, to equate nationalism with conservatism in the modern era, it is hard to suggest that nationalism functioned that way in the Romantic context. The kind of nationalism Wordsworth proposed in the poem had something of a revolutionary nature to it. Wordsworth himself implies in a footnote to the poem that it could be read in such a manner, \"written immediately after my return from France to London, when I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade of our own country . . . as contrasted with the quiet, and I may say the desolation, that the revolution had produced in France.\"[3] The moralism and nationalism of the poem occur simultaneously with and perhaps are the occasion for a call to overthrow the current social and political order, as had recently been done in France. Whether or not Wordsworth wanted the poem to be interpreted in such a way can and is called into question later in his note.Themes include morality, humanity, nature/the natural environment. then tells Milton that his \"soul was like a Star,\" because he was different even from his contemporaries in terms of the virtues listed above. The speaker tells Milton that his voice was like the sea and the sky, a part of nature and therefore natural: \"majestic, free.\" The speaker also compliments Milton's ability to embody \"cheerful godliness\" even while doing the \"lowliest duties.\" As stated above the speaker on several instances refers to Milton as a celestial being.
The Lamb 羔羊
--William Blake 威廉.布莱克
The poem begins with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” The speaker, a child, asks the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding, its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.” In the next stanza, the speaker attempts a riddling answer to his own question: the lamb was made by one who “calls himself a Lamb,” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. The poem ends with the child bestowing a blessing on the lamb.
“The Lamb” has two stanzas, each containing five rhymed couplets. Repetition in the first and last couplet of each stanza makes these lines into a refrain, and helps to give the poem its song-like quality. The flowing l’s and soft vowel sounds contribute to this effect, and also suggest the bleating of a lamb or the lisping character of a child’s chant.
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。
he Chimney Sweeper 扫烟囱孩子(二)
--William Blake --威廉.布莱克
The Chimney Sweeper is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence and of Experience in 1794. It is located early in Songs of Experience, between The Little Girl Found and Nurse's Song. This poem is best understood when read in conjunction with the corresponding poem, The Chimney Sweep, in the Songs of Innocence.
The first stanza is a testimony that describes the situation of a little chimney sweeper in the snow who is crying and calling for his parents while they are praying at the church. In the second and third stanzas, the child explains his situation. He describes that he had been happy and “smiled among the winter snow,” but also he was taught to suffer when he says “and taught me to sing the notes of woe.” Adults are mentioned in the poem when he questioned “Where are thy father and mother?” and when he says “God & his Priest & King.” Finally he blames “they” and adds “who make up a heaven of our misery.”
The poem is pictured by an engraving made by Blake himself. It shows the child walking along a street, it is a rainy day and he is alone. Furthermore, the boy
is barefoot and dirty. With his right hand he is holding a brusher and is carring a dirty, big bag on his back. The rain is particularly dark. The final point is that the child is looking at the storm with what it seems a sad expression in his face.
A little black thing among the snow: 风雪里一个满身乌黑的小东西
Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! “号呀，号”在那里哭哭啼啼!
Where are thy father & mother? say? “你的爹娘上哪儿去了，你讲讲?”
They are both gone up to the church to pray. “他们呀都去祷告了，上了教堂。
Because I was happy upon the heath, “因为我原先在野地里欢欢喜喜，
And smil'd among the winters snow: 我在冬天的雪地里也总是笑嘻嘻,
They clothed me in the clothes of death, 他们就把我拿晦气的黑衣裳一罩，
And taught me to sing the notes of woe. 他们还叫我唱起了悲伤的曲调。
And because I am happy & dance & sing, “因为我显得快活，还唱歌，还跳舞，
They think they have done me no injury: 他们就以为并没有把我害苦，
And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, 就跑去赞美了上帝、教士和国王，
Who make up a heaven of our misery. 夸他们拿我们苦难造成了天堂。”
The Tyger 老虎
by William Blake 威廉·布莱克
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form \"what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language\". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him \"far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced\". Although he only once journeyed farther than a day's walk outside London during his lifetime, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as \"the body of God\existence itself\".
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of both the Romantic movement and \"Pre-Romantic\but hostile to the Church of England, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions,as well as by such thinkers as Jacob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.
Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th century scholar William Rossetti characterised Blake as a \"glorious luminary,\" and as \"a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors.\"
Historian Peter Marshall has classified Blake as one of the forerunners of modern anarchism, along with Blake's contemporary William Godwin.
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?
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 怎样的铁臂
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?
My Heart's In The Highlands
by Robert Burns
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North
The birth place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;
Farwell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
我的心在苏格兰高原
作者：罗伯特•彭斯
翻译：晚枫
我的心啊在高原，它不在这里
我的心啊在高原，寻鹿的踪迹
那些野鹿母鹿啊，我一路追逐
我的心在高原，无论身在何处
再见了啊高原，再见了啊北方
勇士们的家园，我骄傲的故乡；
无论何方漂泊，无论何处流离，
高原的群山啊，我永远热爱你
再见了，白雪皑皑的山峦
再见了，山下碧翠的谷川
再见了，挂满藤蔓的林丛
再见了，奔腾咆哮的山洪
我的心啊在高原，它不在这里
我的心啊在高原，寻鹿的踪迹
那些野鹿母鹿啊，我一路追逐
我的心在高原，无论身在何处
The rhyme scheme of this verse is AABB.
The greatest of Scottish poets,Robert Burns(1759-1796),was born in a peasant’s clay-built cottage.His father was a man whose morality, industry,and zeal for education made him an admirable parent.The poet had little schooling,but under paternal influence he learned how to teach himself.
At the age of fifteen,the future poet was worked beyond his strength in doing a man’s full labour.He called his life on the farms “the unceasing toil of a gallery slave”.All his life he fought a hand-to-hand fight with poverty.
He died miserably in 1796,when only thirty-seven years old.He was buried in Dumfries,mourned by all honest people of his country.
Burns’ poetry is bone and flesh of the Scottish common people.The great poet drew his inspiration from the treasury of Scotch folklore and his poems in their turn became the people’s property.
In his poems Burns glorified a natural man—a health,joyous and clever Scotch peasant.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
WanI wandered lonely as a cloud
我独游于天际，如一朵流云
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
凌空于谷峰，飘然然悠闲。
When all at once I saw a crowd,
忽地，我看见了一群，
A host, of golden daffodils;
一簇簇金黄色的水仙;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
看——在树之荫，湖之缘，
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
在微风中，她们舞姿翩翩。
Continuous as the stars that shine
她们似银河星钻，连延不断，
And twinkle on the milky way,
碧银银，闪闪发光，
They stretched in never-ending line
沿着湖湾的水缘线，
Along the margin of a bay:
伸向无穷无尽的远方：
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
一瞥去便是一万朵，
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
轻舞中花首频颠簸。
The waves beside them danced; but they
波光里的涟漪也舞弄清影，却
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
怎比得水仙的欢快;
A poet could not but be gay,
伴有这等喜悦，
In such a jocund company:
诗人如何不快!
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
我——久久凝视——但毫无答复，
What wealth the show to me had brought:
可知这景致给予我多少财富：
For oft, when on my couch I lie
每当我久卧不眠，
In vacant or in pensive mood,
心绪空荡，或忧思难抱，
They flash upon that inward eye
她们便闪现在心田，
Which is the bliss of solitude;
正如寂寥中的光照;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
于是我的心儿满溢着欢畅，
And dances with the daffodils.
同这群水仙起舞歌唱!
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” was written by William Wordsworth, the representative poet of the early romanticism. As a great poet of nature, William Wordsworth was the first to find words for the most elementary sensations of man face to face with natural phenomena. These sensations are universal and old but, once expressed in his poetry, become charmingly beautiful and new. This poem implies that the relation between the poem and nature is one of unity and that they can be one
In this poem, the poet expresses his emotions by providing the sense impressions he has through imagery. He describes a picture so vividly that it
appeals richly to our senses and to our imagination. The daffodils become much more than mere flowers. They are a symbol of natural beauty and, more importantly, symbolize living a life as rich in experience and sensation as would make a life worth living.
The four stanzas of this poem follow a quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme of ababcc. Each line is metered in iambic tetrameter. He achieves musical quality by the management of alliteration (e.g. “That floats on high o’er vales and hills” in line 2 and “Beside the lake, beneath the trees” in line 5) and assonance (e.g. “beneath the trees in line 5” and “ They stretched in never-ending line” in line 9) and consonance (e.g. “ vales and hills” in line 2 ).
Wordsworth used a lot of rhetoric to express his feeling in the poem. (e.g. in line 1, the poet makes a comparison between “I wandered lonely” and “a cloud” by the use of simile, thus convey to us his lonely mood with the image of “cloud”. He goes further to impress us with the image of countless daffodils with a hyperbole in line 9 “They stretched in never-ending line”. Besides, he used personification to endow natural things with human being’s characters. e.g. “Tossing their heads in sprightly dance” “The waves beside them danced”) therefore, as we read the poem, we become aware of the poet’s deep love toward nature through his lovely and vivid description about natural things with his figurative language.
The lamb
1 \"The Lamb\" is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789. Like many
of Blake's works, the poem is about Christianity. The whole collection is pervaded with a breath
of simplicity and fancy.
Poetic structure
1 rhyme scheme: AA BB CC DD AA AA EF GG FE AA
“The Lamb” has two stanzas, each containing five rhymed couplets.
2 The layout is set up by two stanzas with the refrain: \"Little Lamb who made thee? Dost thou
know who made thee?\"
In the first stanza, the speaker wonders who the lamb's creator is; the answer lies at the end of the
poem. Here we find a physical description of the lamb, seen as a pure and gentle creature. In the
second stanza, the lamb is compared with the infant Jesus, as well as between
the lamb and the
speaker's soul. In the last two lines the speaker identifies the creator: God.
Rhetorical devices
1 The poem begins with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” The speaker, a child, asks
the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding,
its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.”
2 In the next stanza, the speaker attempts a riddling answer to his own question: the lamb was
made by one who “calls himself a Lamb,” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child
and the lamb.
Repetition in the first and last couplet of each stanza makes these lines into a refrain, and helps to
give the poem its song-like quality. The flowing soft vowel sounds contribute
to this effect, and
also suggest the bleating of a lamb or the lisping character of a child’s chant.
Theme
1 The lamb is a common metaphor for Jesus Christ, who is also called the \"The Lamb of God\"
2 Blake in the songs of innocence，with childish life's point of view，shows a full of love and
kindness, compassion and happy world. The poem has just 20 lines, but depicts the character of
gentleness vividly.
3 The poet’s description about the lamb’s kindness and gentleness, aims to express their feeling
of life and nature, and the yearning for the universe and harmonious understanding.
4 He not only sings praise of gentle lamb, but also the mystical power that can create the lamb.
Here the God, Jesus and the Lamb are just the one thing.
The Tyger
Tyger! ︳Tyger! ︳ burning ︳ bright
In the ︳ forests ︳ of the ︳ night,
What im ︳ mortal ︳ hand or ︳ eye
1/5页
Could ︳ frame thy ︳ fearful ︳ symmetry?
Analysis: In the this verse, the author compares the fierceness of a tiger to a burning presence in
dark forests. He wonders what immortal power could create such a fearful beast.
* Line 1 is an example of synecdoche(提喻), a literary device used when a part represents the
whole or the whole represents a part. In line 1 \"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright\" alludes to the
predator's eyes.
In what ︳ distant ︳ deeps or ︳ skies
Burnt the ︳ fire of ︳ thine eyes?
On what ︳ wings dare ︳ he as ︳ pire
What the ︳ hand, dare ︳seize the ︳ fire?
Analysis: Here the poet compares the burning eyes of the tiger to distant fire that only someone
with wings could reach. The poet wonders where such a powerful fire could have come
And what ︳shoulder, ︳ and what ︳art,
Could ︳twist the ︳ sinews ︳ of thy ︳ heart
And when ︳ thy heart ︳ began to ︳ beat,
What dread ︳ hand？and ︳ what dread ︳ feet?
Analysis: In the third stanza we have a metaphor giving us a vision a skillful and powerful
blacksmith creating the tiger's beating heart awakening a powerful beast.
The phrase “...twist the sinews of thy heart\" is also an allusion to a hardheartedness that a beast of
prey must have towards the creatures it kills.
What the︳ hammer?︳ what the ︳ chain?
In what︳ furnace︳ was thy ︳ brain?
What the︳ anvil?︳ what dread ︳ grasp
Dare its ︳ deadly ︳ terrors ︳ clasp?
Analysis: This verse continues the allusion to a creator, who, having made the fearsome beast,
must confront with the sheer terror of a tiger's nature
When the ︳ stars threw ︳ down their ︳ spears,
And wa ︳ter’d hea ︳ven with ︳ their tears,
Did he ︳smile his ︳ work to ︳see?
Did he ︳ who made ︳the Lamb ︳make thee?
Analysis: In the fifth stanza,the author, with beautiful rhetoric (personification),describes a
marvelous creation process likening starlight to a symbolic destructive process.
The author wonders whether the creator of the fierce and predatory tiger could make the docile,
gentle lamb. He sees a conflict between the creation of heartless, burning predator and its potential
victim, the lamb.
Tyger! ︳Tyger! ︳burning ︳bright
In the ︳ forests ︳of the ︳ night
What im ︳mortal ︳hand or ︳eye
2/5页
Dare ︳ frame thy ︳fearful ︳symmetry?
Analysis: The final verse is but a reprise, almost a chorus. It serves the purpose of repeating the
wondrous question of the tiger's creation and gives the reader another chance to enjoy the
rhetorical and already answered question, \"What immortal hand or eye?\"
The answer lies in the reader's interpretation of creation: Did God create the fearsome along with
the gentle? Why does He allow the tiger to burn in the dark forest, while the lamb gambols in the
glen under the stars of that very creation? The author leaves it up to the reader to decide. The
important thing is the question, not the answer.
Background information: The Tyger\" is a poem by the English poet William Blake. It was
published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794. The Cambridge Companion to
William Blake (2003) calls it \"the most anthologized poem in English.\"
解析题目：His choice of \"tyger\" has usually been interpreted as being for effect, perhaps to render
an \"exotic or alien quality of the beast\or because it's not really about a \"tiger\" at all, but a
metaphor.
The Meter: trochee tetrameter. (the poem is in trochaic tetrameter)
The poem is comprised of six quatrains (A quatrain is a four-line stanza) in rhymed couplets. The
Rhyme Scheme： aa bb with a near rhyme(近似韵) ending the first and last stanzas, drawing
attention to the tiger's \"fearful symmetry.\"
Rhetorical devices
1 Repetition of \"Tyger\" in line 1, \"dare\" in lines 7 & 8, \"heart\" in lines 10 & 11, \"what\" in lines12,
13, & 15, \"Did he\" in lines 19-20, and several repeats in stanzas 1 & 2 establish the poem's
nursery rhyme like rhythm.
2 Alliteration in \"The Tyger\" abounds and helps create a sing-song rhythm. Examples include the
following:
\"burning bright\" (1) \"frame thy fearful (4) \"distant deeps\" (5) \"what wings\" (7) \"began to beat\" (11) \"dare its deadly\" (16) \"he who\" (20)
3 Symbolism ：
(1) the tiger represents the dangers of mortality; (powerful force with terror, mystery and
violence eg: fearful symmetry, dread hand, obscure in symbolic meaning)
(2)the fire imagery symbolizes trials
(3) the forest of the night represents unknown realms or challenges;
(4) the blacksmith represents the Creator;
(5) the fearful symmetry symbolizes the existence of both good and evil, the knowledge that there
is opposition in all things, a rather fearful symmetry indeed.
* Symbols
The Lamb: God
Distant Deeps: Hell
The Tiger: Evil (or Satan)
Skies: Heaven 4 Metaphor: Compare the tiger’s eyes to fire.
3/5页
5 Anaphora: Repetition of what at the beginning of sentences or clauses. (首语重复法) Example: What dread hand and what dread feet? / What the hammer? what the chain?
Theme
The poem is more about the creator of the tiger than it is about the tiger itself. The poet was at a loss to explain how the same God who made the lamb could make the tiger. So, the theme is: humans are incapable of fully understanding the mind of God and the mystery of his handiwork.
COMPARISON between the lamb and the tyger
1 \"The Tyger\" is the sister poem to “The Lamb\" “Songs of Innocence”, a reflection of similar ideas from a different perspective, but it focuses more on goodness than evil.
2 Both are creation poems
3 Structure of the “The Lamb” is more obviously singular when compared with the complexity of “The Tiger,” whose complexity is achieved through layered questions without answers, while the Lamb poses a simple, singular question and then directly answers it.
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