Republic of Iraq

Ministry of Higher Education

And scientific Research
Al-Mustansiriya University
College of Arts
Department of English

Symbolism in Blake's The Tiger and The Sick

Rose

:Submitted by
Murtadha Rahman

Supervised by
Lect.Alia Khalaf
 ‫((َك َّذ َبْت َقْبَلُهْم َقْو ُم ُنوٍح َفَك َّذ ُبوا َع ْبَد َنا َو َقاُلوا َم ْج ُنوٌن‬
‫َو اْز ُد ِج َر )) "‬

‫صدق هللا العظيم‬

‫سورة القمر‪ /‬اآلية رْقم( ‪) 9‬‬
DEDICATION

: To

my family with love and gratitude

Researcher
Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the support
of many people. Many thanks to my supervisor, Lect. Alia
Kkalaf who read my numerous revisions and helped me with her
.suggestions and advice

Also many thanks to the University of Al Mustansiriyah/ Department

of English and its members for giving me the opportunity to complete
.this research under their guidance
List of Contents

List Subjects Page

1 Quranic Verse I
2 Dedication II
3 Acknowledgment III

4 : Contents IV

5 Abstract V

6 Chapter one 4-1

7 Part one 1.1 1

8 Introduction 1

9 Part two 1.2 5

10 Explain the Tiger and Sick Rose and 8-5

symbolism
11 1.3 Part three 9

12 conclusion 15 – 9

13 Notes 16

17 – 16

18
Abstract
:Chapter One
William Blake: a biographical notes 1.1

William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757, to James, a

hosier, and Catherine Blake. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having
visionsat four he saw God put his head to the window‖; around age nine, while
walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. Although his
parents tried to discourage him from lying," they did observe that he was
different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school. He
.learned to read and write at home

At age ten Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent
him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake began writing poetry. When he
turned fourteen, he apprenticed with an engraver because art school proved too
costly. One of Blake‘s assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at
Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles from which he
would draw inspiration throughout his career. After his seven-year. In 1782, he
.married an illiterate woman named Catherine Boucher

Blake was a nonconformist who associated with some of the leading radical
thinkers of his day, such as Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft. In defiance
of 18th-century neoclassical conventions, he privileged imagination over reason
in the creation of both his poetry and images, asserting that ideal forms should
be constructed notfrom observations of nature but from inner visions. He
declared in one poem, ―I must create a system or be enslaved by another
man‘s.‖ Works such as ―The French Revolution‖ (1791), ―America, a
Prophecy‖ (1793.),―Visions of the Daughters of Albion‖ (1793), and Europe, a
Prophecy‖ (1794) express his opposition to the English monarchy, and to 18th-
century political and social tyranny in general. Theological tyranny is the
subject of The Book of Urizen (1794). In the prose work The Marriage of
).Heaven and Hell (1790-93)

Blake believed that his poetry could be read and understood by common
people, but he was determined not to sacrifice his vision in order to become
popular. In 1808 he exhibited some of his watercolors at the Royal Academy,
and in May of 1809 he exhibited his works at his brother James‘s house. Some
of those who saw theexhibit praised Blake‘s artistry, but others thought the
 paintings hideous‖ and more than a few called him insane. Blake‘s poetry was
.not well known by the general public, but he was mentioned in A Biographical

Blake is a pre-Romantic poet. He has a very individual view of the world His
poetic style, ideas, sensibility, and ideas contrast with the order and control of
.the Augustans

William Blake is regarded as the precursor of romantic poetry. He belongs to

the age of transition from late 18 th century to early 19th century poetry. Some of
his poems are like the poems of 18 th century poets because they give us a picture
of life and society. His group of poems give us the impression of English
romantic poetry because they are imaginative, sensuous and simple like the
romantic poets. He writes about the beauty of nature, hills, sea, birds, tress,
forest etc. which became the subject matter of romantic poets. Before the arrival
of the romantic poets he wrote romantic poetry. Therefore he can be called the
precursor of romantic poetry. It seems that romantic poets followed the style of
Blake and gave a full expression to Blake’s romanticism.a Blake’s poems were
published into two collections- Songs of Innocence and Songs of
Experience. Songs of Innocence are poems about the innocence state of mind,
the beauty the simplicity of life. These poems show love for nature, beauty,
imagination etc. Which was the favorite subject matter of the romantic poets?
The romantic poets were inspired by Blake. It seems that they got a ready-made
form of poetry from Blake. If he born later he would have been grouped with
.the romantic poets

Symbolism is the idea that things represent other things. What we mean by
that is that we can look at something let’s say, the color red and conclude that
it represents not the color red itself but something beyond it: for example,
passion, or love, or devotion. Or maybe the opposite: infidelity. The color red
can also represent blood. It can also mean stop when you approach a traffic
light. It can symbolize communism. In other words, it can mean anything you
want it to mean. In other words, it means everything. Or: it means nothing,
because if you can assign any kind of symbolic interpretation to it, it has no
internal value, no fixed or unchanging or universal meaning. It has no special
quality that designates it as a symbol of one particular thing.

So the questions is: are there universal symbols that communicate agreed-upon
concepts? We could talk, for example, about white a symbol of purity or
innocence or life. But again, that would be a very superficial reading of
literature, because white could also signify paleness, bloodlessness, lifelessness
and death. So once again, if white can signify one thing and its opposite life and
death what kind of symbol is it?

A more sophisticated way of approaching symbolism would be to say that

things have symbolic qualities only in certain contexts , and sometimes they do
not symbolize anything at all. If we want to quote Gertrude Stein: sometimes a
rose is a rose is a rose. Sometimes a rose doesn’t mean love or courtship or
passion or desire or devotion or anything beyond itself. Some flowers happen to
be red, others are white or blue, and they have no symbolic meaning, neither in
real life nor in literature.