Symbolism is a seer's art of representing something indirectly, through another, often deceptively simple object. But symbolism does not aim at merely substituting an object for another one. Symbolism is the art of evoking the essence of an object gradually to reveal a mood or emotion or some mysterious region of human psyche. It may also tend to reveal a matter of universal significance.
William Blake is one of the greatest symbolist poets of the world. The greatness of his poetry lies in the sweep of his imagination and symbolic dimension it acquires after every fresh reading. Blake is unique because of his ability to communicate beyond immediate context and space. Blake gave the doctrine that “all had originally one language and one religion”. It implies that the similarities between myths, rituals and doctrines of various religions are more significant that their disparities. Blake wants to suggest that a study of comparative religions, morphology of myths, rituals and theology can lead us to a single visionary conception, a vision of the fallen and created world, which has been redeemed by divine sacrifice and is progressing towards regeneration.
By postulating the world of imagination higher than that of reality Blake suggests a way of closing the gap, which is completed by identifying God with human imagination. In ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ Blake wrote: “Man is All Imagination. God is Man and exists in us and we in Him.” In his creative activity, an artist expresses the creative activity of God; as all men are in God, so all creators are in the creator. The “divine image” and the “human abstract” apart from signifying oneness of man and God, also forms the basis of Blake’s theory of good and evil. Civilization is in more than one sense supernatural and in its evolution and development man’s superiority over nature has been proved. The central symbol in all of Blake’s works is the city. Of all the animals, man is the most maladjusted to Nature, that is why he outdistances the animals and it is the triumph of his imagination that he creates a world of his own dreams.
In his poems Blake does not present ordinary events common men see and understand them, rather describes spiritual events which have to be portrayed symbolically in order to render them intelligible. Blake uses the familiar figures of the Shepherd and the Lamb, which can be easily understood. In ‘Songs of Innocence’ all desires are innocent, even discipline is innocent and is a source of happiness. The poems in the book reveal childlike simplicity. The innocence is replaced by ferocity, ruthlessness, pain and corruption in ‘Songs of Experience’ in which many poems are set as a contrast to those of ‘Songs of Innocence’. Note the contrast between these two most frequently antholized poems of Blake--
THE LAMB
Little Lamb, who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee;
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb[1]
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
NOTE: In this simple poem Blake presents a pleasant description of a lamb with a child’s natural affection for it, and the child’s simple understanding of God. He reminds the lamb of the benevolence of the Creator bestowed on it. God who made the lamb is called lamb himself because of his gentleness and meekness. The child is also called by God’s name as He became a little child at the Incarnation.
THE TYGER
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[2]?
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?
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 watered 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?
NOTE: This poem is written in contrast to ‘The Lamb’. The child who loved lamb is overwhelmed by the cruel beauty and ferocity of tiger (the spelling ‘tyger’ emphasizes it). He wonders what devices or instruments have the Creator employed to create it. The poem focuses on the fact that gentleness and peacefulness exist along with terror and ferociousness in this mundane world.
[Footnote 1 : For his child-like innocence and chastity, Christ is called a 'Lamb'. Again, the Jews and the Hindus sacrifice lamb in certain religious occasions; Christ also sacrificed his life for the sake of mankind. This is another reason of Christ's being compared to a lamb.
Footnote 2 : Seizing the fire hints at the daring act of stealing the fire from Heaven by Prometheus. He stole the fire and gave it to mankind, as a result he was punished by Zeus.]
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