Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

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,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

This is an interesting poem, William Blake is describing a tiger. In the beginning of the poe, he describes the tiger as an extremely scary and frightening creature; he then continues and asks himself why would God create such a beautiful and horrifying animal. When he says “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” I believe he is doubting if all God makes is positive in this life. In my opinion, Blake mentions the Lamb as the antonym for the tiger, the lamb is a sweet and joyful animal which is associated with God through many texts, while the tiger is a dangerous creature. I see this poem as short and entertaining, and it is similar to “The Lamb” also written by him, yet the meaning behind them are polar opposites.

‘Twas warm-at first-like Us
Until there crept upon
A Chill-like frost upon a Glass-
Till all the scene-be gone.

 

The Forehead copied Stone-
The Fingers grew too cold
To ache-and like a Skater’s Brook-
The busy eyes-congealed-

 

It straightened-that was all-
It crowded Cold to Cold
It multiplied indifference-
As Pride were all it could-

 

And even when with Cords-
‘Twas lowered, like a Weight-
It made no Signal, nor demurred,
But dropped like Adamant.

 

In the beginning of the poem I thought it was going to about lovers, but when I got to the end it seemed more death related. I didn’t think it was more about death until the last stanza where she said “‘Twas lowered, like a Weight- …. But dropped like Adamant” It gave me an imagery of a person’s coffin being lowered to the ground or a person literally just dropping dead. With this in mind, when I reread the poem, it became a lot more clearer.
The first stanza shows a comparison between a living person and a dying one. “‘Twas warm-at first-like Us” shows that the dying person was once just as warm as it’s suppose to be. Dickinson shows that death doesn’t hit a person, but instead creates an illusion of it creeping up on a person and slowly turning them cold. Dickinson doesn’t seem to directly address the dying body until the 3rd stanza. She calls the body “it” and it feels like she’s indifferent towards the dying person. The poem in its entirety feels cold because all the references she’s making to show the chilling body. “Frost upon a Glass”, “Skater’s Brook”, “Forehead copied Stone” all gave me feelings of a cold touch.
Two things I found standing out to me was the way she capitalized some words and the dashes throughout the poem. Perhaps she wanted to emphasize the important words by capitalizing the first letter. The dashes throughout the poem also seem to slow down the pace of the poem. I feel like they’re important because it makes the poem more slow paced and draws out the imagery more. If the poem didn’t have its dashes, it would seem more hurried and I feel as though it wouldn’t give the reader the same feeling the poem gives with its dashes.

SONG

by: Christina Rossetti

WHEN I am dead, my dearest,

Sing no sad songs for me;

From the first sentence, we can see the topic of this poem is death. In the second sentence, Rossetti is telling her loved ones not to mourn over her death, either because she is trying to cheer them up and tell them to forget about her or she has already accepted death and she doesn’t need sad songs.

Plant thou no roses at my head,

Nor shady cypress tree:

Be the green grass above me

With showers and dewdrops wet;

These four lines contain words that are related to nature such as roses, trees, grass, showers and dewdrops. Since these words are related to nature and life, and when Rossetti says I don’t need any of this, it’s to strengthen her point in the second line, that she accepts death and is telling her loved ones to forget about her.

And if thou wilt, remember,

And if thou wilt, forget.

These two lines are interesting because they contradict each other. One of them says to remember and the other says to forget, but I’m not really sure what message the author is trying to convey here.

I shall not see the shadows,

I shall not feel the rain;

I shall not hear the nightingale

Sing on, as if in pain;

And dreaming through the twilight

That doth not rise nor set,

The second stanza is different from the first stanza. The first stanza used words relating to nature and life, but in the second stanza we see darker words, such as shadows, rain, pain, and twilight. I think the author is trying to describe how it’s like to be dead because “she is dreaming through the twilight” and she’s forgetting her loved ones, who are the shadows, who are singing in pain and maybe the rain is referring to tears.

Haply I may remember,

And haply may forget.

Here we see the contradiction again with the words remember and forget.

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

This poem represents Edgar Allan Poe’s view on life that we are all living life’s big dream, where our inner dreams are merely a function of our own mind. Poe believes that his life is like a dream. He stands on the shore of the ocean, holding grains of sand and is weeping. He cannot keep the sand from running out of his hand, and is is comparing it to his own life. As in, life is always slipping away through our fingers like the sand in Poe’s hands (haha did not mean to rhyme but cannot substitute any other words). When sand is held loosely, it will sit in your palm, but if you try to grasp it for a firm hold you loose more control of what little you have. He compares holding the sand to dreaming. Therefore, if you hold on too tight to your dream you end up making it all fall apart (wake up). When Poe holds on to the sand too tight it slips away so like a dream the more you become aware of it (lucid dreaming), the more likely you are waking up from it. Thus loosing the happy place that you are dreaming about. In addition, I think subconsciously whatever you dream about are your goals in life that being success, reconciling with particular people, living a lavish lifestyle, the list goes on and on. The waves he is mentioning are in a way the obstacles we go through in life bringing us down. If you think about it literally if he uses a little water from the shore and places it in his palm with the sand it will become more sturdy and more successful to grasp without having it slip away. But thinking about it in terms of oneself you can say the waves are the obstacles that are making you grow, learn from your mistakes and use the lessons to solidify your goal.

341

Christina Rossetti was a Romantic poet who lived in the 19th century in England. It is interesting to note that her pen name is Ellen Alleyne. I tried looking as to why she chose the name Ellen but I could not find a sufficient answer. If anyone has any thoughts please let me know. I can almost write an entire blog post on why people change their names and whether or not I agree with it. Christina was a devout Anglican and wrote a lot of religious poetry. Her most famous work was the “Goblin Market”, written in 1862. Christina passed away at the young age of 64 due to Graves Disease.

The first two lines of the poem are:

” The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept

And strewn with rushes, rosemary and may.”

I loved this introduction! I think it is very important that the writer informs the reader the setting. After reading these first two lines I was able to paint an image in my mind. I imagined a dimly lit room with the sunlight being the only source of light in the room. The bed was covered with red and white flowers that one would see at a funeral parlor or cemetery.

” Where thro’ the lattice ivy-shadow crept.”  The word lattice comes from the Latin word lades. It is a structure made up of wood and metal fastened together with a diamond shaped pieces on the top. To me this sounds very similar to a wooden casket with some decoration on top. After a casket is in the ground for a few years ivy and grass begin to grow on the casket. Perhaps, the author is alluding to a casket? The next three lines in the poem are:

” He leaned above me, thinking that I slept

And could not hear him; but I heard him say: 

Poor child, poor child…”

These three lines solidify my thoughts that the protagonist is in fact in a casket on his bed. When one is sleeping, people do not usually talk to the one in bed unless it is an urgent matter and they wake them up. On the contrary, it is very common for people to speak to a relative or a friend when they are in the hospital and near death even if they are not getting a response. It is very natural to unleash emotion and speak to a loved one. Personally, when my grandfather was very ill and no longer responsive I still spoke to him in bed even though he could not respond and most probably did not hear me. Although he was not responding it was still very therapeutic for me to talk to him.

“He did not touch the shroud, or raise the fold

That hid my face, or take my hand in his.”

I am not quite sure as to why the author is trying to convey with these lines. It seems to me as if Christina is expressing the lack of care by the man who is visiting his loved one. I do not feel that one needs to touch or kiss the dead in order to show true love or compassion. Everyone connects to the dead in his or her own way, and some feel uncomfortable touching a dead body.

“He did not love me living; but once dead

He pitied me; and very sweet it is.”

These two lines confused me and caused me to reread the poem a few times. If he did not love her living, why did he visit after she was dead? I know it is respect to the dead, but was this a visit of pity or love? Anyhow, it is still kind that he visited. The poem ends with the words: ” And very sweet it is to know he still is warm tho I am cold.” I think the protagonist is using sarcasm and is not genuinely happy that he is still warm. I do not know how much she really appreciated the man’s visit. The famous words ” Too little too late”, are a perfect way to describe the theme of this poem. The life lesson that I learned from this poem is take advantage of the “now” moment in life and do not wait until it is too late.

Much Madness is divinest Sense-

Here, I believeDickinson referred to the people considered crazy or mad were actually the ones who spoke the most truth.

To a discerning Eye-

Much Sense-the starkest Madness-

‘Tis the Majority 

She continues, saying how the majority of people saw the ones who thought outside the norm and who spoke sense as threats. The majority saw it as a disease to question what everyone else thought was sense and call it senseless.

In this, as All, prevail-

Assent-and you are sane-

Demur-you’re straightway dangerous-

And handled with a Chain-

Here, I believe she explains that to succeed you must agree to the norm and you won’t be ceen as a threat. Howvever, if you speak up or reject the ideas of what the majority already believes, you will be lock away.

After Death — Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti in this poem is referring to the value of life. She recalls the man she loved, filled with pity, gazing at her corpse and weeping. 

The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept  And strewn with rushes, rosemary and may  Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay,  Where thro’ the lattice ivy-shadows crept. 

In those lines the author does not mention specifically the relation between her and the man. She only describes a floor and bed covered in rushes, and half-covered window, which represents death. The author in these lines is using verbs as swept, strewn and crept to illustrate the setting and to let people know where the scene is taking place. She is using verbs as pitied touch, ruffles, raise and leaned to refer to her man. 

  He leaned above me, thinking that I slept  and could not hear him; but I heard him say:  “Poor child, poor child”: and as he turned away  Came a deep silence, and I knew he wept.  He did not touch the shroud, or raise the fold  that hid my face, or take my hand in his,  or ruffle the smooth pillows for my head: 

In these lines 

Those lines express the pity her love felt for her, he only showed her affection because she was death. He was those kinds of men who always show love when their love is gone. Moreover, he did not even touch her or held her hands to show how bad he felt, his silence and his actions showed that he didn’t love her. . I think that the only feeling from him to her was pity. A real love will die in tears knowing his love is dead.

  He did not love me living but once dead  He pitied me; and very sweet it is  to know he still is warm tho’ I am cold. 

While she was alive he did not love her, but once she was death he showed pity for her and wanted to show her his love. His sentiments were warmer after her death than during her life. The line of “he still is warm tho’ I am cold. “It can be described in two ways. The first one is telling that while he is alive enjoying life she is in the cold of death. Another meaning is that the author is saying refers to the feelings of both characters he used the word warm as person that is still alive and can feel and cold as person who is dead without feelings. Sometimes people do not show love to those special people. on occasion people only love while they are alive and once they die they want to show affection to them.  People must show what they feel when they are alive because once they pass away they get intact; they don’t feel, see or hear. These lines have a great moral which is…. while people have that special person alive  they have to show affection and not take for granted anything. Life is like a light while is on we enjoy it once it turns off everything is gone and we cannot go back