Blake's Poems: 'The Lamb' and 'The Tyger' - God's Creation and the Question of Evil, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Blake's Poems: 'The Lamb' and 'The Tyger' - God's Creation and the Question of Evil e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! 1) The lamb, Blake "The Lamb" is a poem by English visionary William Blake, published in his 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. The poem sees in the figure of the lamb an expression of God's will (volontà di dio) and the beauty of God's creation. The poem is told from the perspective of a child, who shows an intuitive understanding of the nature of joy and, indeed, the joy of nature. "The Lamb," then, is a kind of hymn (inno) to God, praising God's creation while also implying (implicando) that humankind has lost the ability to appreciate it fully (completamente). TEXT: The speaker directly addresses a lamb, asking it if it knows who created it, who gave it life and invited it to eat. The lamb is then described in its natural environment, walking beside streams and running through fields. Whoever made the lamb also gave it its coat, which is made out of soft white wool. The lamb's gentle noises, according to the speaker, make the surrounding valleys happy. The speaker then asks again: Who made the lamb? In the second stanza, the speaker excitedly offers to tell the lamb the answer. The creator has the same name as the lamb, and indeed calls himself "Lamb." This creator is gentle and kind, and he was once a small child. The speaker, too, is a child, and both the speaker and the lamb share the name of their creator. The speaker then asks God twice to bless (benedire) the lamb ____________________________________________________________________________________________ THE TYGER, BLAKE "The Tyger" is a poem by visionary English poet William Blake, and is often said to be the most widely anthologized (largamente studiato in antologia) poem in the English language. It consists entirely of questions about the nature of God and creation, particularly whether the same God that created vulnerable beings like the lamb could also have made the fearsome (spaventosa) tiger. The tiger becomes a symbol for one of religion's most difficult questions: why does God allow evil to exist? At the same time, however, the poem is an expression of marvel and wonder at the tiger and its fearsome power, and by extension the power of both nature and God. TEXT The speaker directly addresses a tiger, imagining its bright flashes of color in the dark night-time forest. The speaker asks which immortal being could possibly have created the tiger's fearsome beauty. The speaker wonders (si chiede) in which far-off (lontani) depths (profnodità) or skies the tiger's fiery eyes were made. Did the tiger's creator have wings, and whose hand would be daring enough to create the tiger? The speaker imagines the kind of effort and skill that must have gone into creating the tiger, wondering who would be strong enough to build the tiger's muscular body. Whose hands and feet were the ones that made the tiger's heart start beating? The speaker wonders about the tools the tiger's creator must have used, imagining that the tiger's brain was created in a forge (stampo per forgiare i metalli). What terrifying being would be so daring as to create the tiger? The speaker mentions a time when the stars gave up their weapons (armi) and rained their tears (lacrime) on heaven (paradiso). At this time, wonders the speaker, did the creator look at the tiger and smile at his accomplishment (sorride a quanto appena realizzato)? And was the tiger made by the same creator who made the lamb? The speaker addresses the tiger again, this time wondering not just who could create this fearsome (spaventosa) beast—but who would dare (ma chi oserebbe). ____________________________________________________________________________________________ She dwelt among the untrodden ways, Wordsworth “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways” is a 12-line ballad written in 1798 by William Wordsworth, one of the founding figures of the English Romantic movement. It first appeared in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads, which Wordsworth jointly published with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the poem, an unidentified speaker mourns (lamenta piangendo) the loss (la perdità, morte) of Lucy, a young woman who died young in the English countryside and whose beauty and virtue were overlooked in life (non erano apprezzate quando era in vita). The poem is one of five in a group critics refer to as the “Lucy Poems,” all but one of which mention Lucy by name — though Wordsworth never acknowledged (riconosciuto) their connection and was notably quiet on who Lucy might have referred to. Text: She lived in a remote place where few people ever ventured, near the source of the Dove River in central England. She was a young, unmarried woman who didn’t get the appreciation she deserved in life, and whom very few people loved. She was like a violet next to a big mossy stone (pietra ricoperta di muschio), the result of which was that her delicate beauty was often obscured by bigger, more obvious things—it was hard to fully see and understand her. She was as beautiful as a star when it is the only one to appear in the evening sky. This young woman was unknown by people when she lived, and therefore few people noticed when this woman, whose name was Lucy, died. Nevertheless, she is dead and buried in the earth (seppelita per terra)—and, I must admit, it has had a serious emotional impact on me. ____________________________________________________________________________________________