Blake was said to see animals as symbols of God’s kindness (lamb) and in this case, God’s evil (tiger). He is exploring the question of the goodness of God. Is he all good and pure or Is he more similar to humans and has both sides to him, good and bad. The entire poem uses such delicate and mysterious language. The poem Is soaked in ambiance and spirituality which I find to be rare in other poems I’ve read from the text book. The next three stanzas focus on where God came from in “distant deeps or skies” and like the stricture this allows you to paint in your head.
Another verse in the next three stanzas that I like is “In what furnace was thy brain? ” asking the question is god physical. My favorite two lines of the poem are “When the stars threw down their spears, and watered haven with their tears” because of the glorious visual It paints for you of the creation of our world through Flake’s eyes. The poem concludes with a reference question to lamb (good) and tiger (evil) and if God has crafted both of these animals. The last stanza is the same stanza it begins with, depicting the beauty and danger of the Tiger. Brahmas” is much more indirect about questioning the origins of man. You would need to understand the Hindu culture on some level before being able to understand what he Is trying to convey. “Shadow and sunlight are the same” Is a comparison that means that Brahmas (himself) is everywhere in both the light and the dark. Or two contrasting forces, brahmas exists there. “l am the doubter and the doubt” is one of my favorite lines in this poem because it continues that contradicting theme that is reign to Western beliefs.
T The poem explores God but on a different level and it also explores the God that is placed In every one of us. The poem concludes with It’s most poetic statement “Find me, and turn thy back on heaven” which I do not know exactly how to Interpret, but I love what I think it means and how it sounds when you read it. In some ways I see that as meaning “find me” and you will find what you wanted to find in your idea of heaven. Overall the poem is not as poetic but more like reading scripture. I like both styles.
In Flake’s poem his Western views come across dramatically. The belief in one referenced in “Brahmas”, “The strong Gods one for my abode, and pine in vain the sacred Seven”. The language and style of both poems is drastically different however. In Flake’s poem there is a sense of familiarity in the way he has tried to make it beautiful and pleasing to read. In Emerson poem it seems less for the reader and more for the purpose of writing a poem about sacred things. Both of them are intended to indulge into the most mysterious subject of literature, God.
