Romantic Essay Notes

Romanticist Essay Notes

• 'Tyger' and 'London'
• William Blake

Tyger

• Tyger is a poem about blake's love of nature and hate of the industrial revolution.
• The first technique in Tyger is the rhythm. 'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright!' is the quote. The rhythm is almost like a drum, or heartbeat, or the footsteps of a tiger. It creates quite an ominous effect.
• The second technique is the use of rhetorical questions. 'In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes?' is the quote. The questions are effective because Blake is questioning the industrial revolution in this poem.
• The third technique is symbolism. 'What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain?' is the quote. It uses industrial items to question how nature could have created something so beautiful alongside the machinery and pollution of man.

London

• London is a poem about Blake's hate of the pollution and industrialisation of the city.
• The first technique is rhythm. 'I wander thro' each chart'd street, Near where the chart'd thames does flow.' is the quote. The rhythm creates the effect almost of chained convicts walking in sync.
• The second technique is repetition. 'In every cry of every man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice; in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear:' is the quote. The repetition also helps to create an effect almost like chained convicts walking. It also reinforces his hate of pollution and industrialisation.
• The third technique is a metaphor. 'The mind-forg'd manacles I hear:' is the quote. The metaphor implies that everyone is oppressed and denied freedom, and their minds imprisoned.