William Blake

The romantic rebellion began as stark opposition to the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment supported the use of reason to question long held traditions such as government and religion while the Romantic philosophy advocated a belief in expressing ones inner feelings. Using reason, logic, and science the Enlightenment marked a period of industrial growth, with the advent of the steam engine and the introduction of machines in production. This new industrialization leads to a more urbanized society because people left the country to find work in the more populated cities. While the Enlightenment was build on reality and preoccupied with man's potential the Romantic philosophy was excited with man's imagination and it's visionary wonder. By examining two of William Blake's poems you can see his beliefs about alienation from oneself and nature, the modern growing city, industrialization and human nature.

William Blake offers perhaps the bleakest view of the industrial world. Blake's two poems The Lamb (1789) and The Tyger (1794) should be examined together because they are in stark contrast to one another. The lamb is symbolic of innocence purity, and sacrifice while the tiger is symbolic or wildness and ferociousness. In The Lamb, Blake asks "Little Lamb, who made thee," which is a reference to God. Not only did God create the lamb the animal, but he also created Jesus Christ who called himself the lamb of God and he created man who is to God what a lamb is to it's Shepard. The Tyger, on the other hand, is a less optimistic poem. Unlike the lamb, the tiger is dreaded and fearful and in this poem, Blake likens industry to a tiger "burning" in the forest. The first stanza is ended with a profound question, "what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry." By this Blake is asking who made this figurative tiger, this industry that burns in the night. He is critical of industrialization and the modern world; clearly Blake implies that no god would be able to make something so terrible when he asks, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"

The Lamb is what Jesus, who was the Son of God, referred to himself as and is also symbolic of purity and goodness. In Blake's eyes, a god who created the lamb could not create the tiger. Man has made and runs industry, so the tiger is this man made, artificial creature. The answer to Blake's initial question of who "could frame thy fearful symmetry," is man. This poem speaks volumes about Blake's opinions on industrialization but also on the nature of man in the industrial age. God has made this pure, nearly perfect creature in the lamb, so leave it to man to corrupt it and make its opposite, a terrifying, immoral and wild creature. In the fifth stanza Blake even anticipates God's reaction to man creating the tiger saying, "the stars threw down their spears and water'd heaven with their tears." Clearly, in Blake's eyes, God, or a higher, more advanced power can see the flaws and mistakes in creating such a dangerous thing. The last stanza ends with the same question posed in the first stanza except Blake changes the word "could" to the word "dare." This simple change is very telling about the nature of man according to Blake. The word dare implies that man is opposing God's will, creating and corrupting something beautiful that God has given the earth.

Jesus is a big fan of Gone With the Wind. He collects many posters and books about the movie. You can check out his recent web site where he writes about gone with the wind costumes and a gone with the wind memorabilia.