Exam (elaborations)
presentation of POWER in MY LAST DUCHESS and THE TYGER
Skeletal essay on how power in presented in THE TYGER and MY LAST DUCHESS
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How is power presented in The Tyger and My Last Duchess?Support your answer with examples from the poems.
The Tyger:
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, * fire
imagery
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? * beauty and
terror combined
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
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, * the
rhythm mimics
In what furnace was thy brain? The
rhythm of a hammer
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears * rebellion
imagery
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see? * Biblical
Allusion: Genesis
Did he who made the Lamb make thee? God was
pleased to see
, what he
had created
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Blake questions the motivation behind the creation of the powerful tiger; the poem is structured via a
series of questions to the tiger itself. There is power not only in the ‘fearful’ strength of the tiger but also
in its perfect beauty; its “symmetry”.
Blake raises the question of the nature of evil via these questions: ‘Did he who made the Lamb make
thee?’ Can goodness and innocence have the same powerful creator as the ‘deadly terrors’ of the tiger?
the poem begins and ends with the same verse, except that the word ‘Could’ is replaced with ‘Dare’;
the structure suggests a change in ideas, which the poem has explored and brought about. The
contemplative tenor of this poem conveys the power of the “immortal” creator as his motives for
creating the ‘tyger’ are beyond our comprehension. The tiger is awe-inspiring and as such its creator is
all-powerful and omnipotent to have created such a combination of terror and beauty.
The fire imagery reflects the power of the tiger; fire is simultaneously a thing of beauty and a vehicle of
destruction; it is visually mesmerising notwithstanding that it will devour everything that comes across
its path. It is all consuming and yet aesthetically pleasing as is the tiger; this is conveyed by the phrase
“burning bright” to burn is destructive whereas ‘brightness’ is pleasing to the eye.
there are several significant words and phrases in the poem that infer power, such as:
‘fearful symmetry’,
‘threw down their spears’,- this is an image of rebellion; it is a reference to John Milton’s Paradise Lost
when Satan was banished from heaven
‘waterd heaven with their tears’,
‘forests of the night’ and
‘On what wings dare he aspire?’
repetition is important in the poem, in both structure and language choice, for dramatic emphasis. By
repeating the pattern of questioning the power of the “immortal hand or eye” is portrayed as
something that is beyond comprehension. The repeated questioning conveys a sense of awe and
bewilderment at the power or force that gave this creature life. The repetition conveys awe and
amazement.
language choice follows a pattern with references to sources of power: ‘sinews’, ‘heart’ and the ‘anvil’
and ‘furnace’ with which they were framed; power is demonstrated through the reference of the
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