Poem number eleven within his notebook starts with the lines, “‘The shepard blew upon his reed a strange fragility of notes’” which is a clear imitation of the first few lyrics of Blake’s Songs of Innocence. It was also discovered that the twelfth poem titled The Shepherd to His Lass contained early imitations of pastoral lyrics, which can be reasonably attributed to Blake’s influence, given Thomas’s great interest in Blake (13-14 Grant). Dylan Thomas’s concept of the Divine Image can also be given credit to Blake’s influence from Vala; much of the imagery used in Thomas’s In the Beginning is very Blakean and can be traced to similarities in The Book of Urizen. The use of imagery that incorporates blood and anatomy is consistent with both poets while they tend to see the world in human form. For example, they both view the creation of the world as the creation of the human body and views the world in it’s “fallen form” in terms of a “giant sleeping body” (Grant 17).
The words of the fifth verse, “By not faith alone” speak to me in terms of telling the reader to not only obtain your faith in not only yourself but also with your faith in GOD. The assumed person the poem seems to be referring to seems to have worn down his own energy/faith and after striven for so long in life, he becomes emotionally and mentally drained/unwell or “beaten down” as written in the poem. Curiously, Poe never truly reveals the person that the poem is centered around during the four stanzas that make up this
Another reoccurring theme in the poem is love. The reader can see from the very beginning that this poem is about someone the speaker loved very much. It’s clear that all the man wants is his dear Lenora back, although that is impossible. Knowing this, the reader can infer that Poe struggled with love in his own life, so much so that he took to writing about it. Although he never comes out directly and says that this is a poem about love, the reader can recognize the deeper meaning of his writings.
Connecting from one to Another (A critique of William Blake’s archetypes) “Archetypes provide foundations to build on and allow endless variety” (Gibson). William Blake in his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience has a few main archetypes in these poem. Blake’s poems have a tendency to move from the simple to the complex. In The Lamb by William Blake this poem is about lambs, where the speaker asks the lamb who made him, then informs the little lamb in the last stanza who made him. This poem has a lot of repetition and uses childlike language, which places it in Songs of Innocence.
The poem, “The Layers,” by Stanley Kunitz, speaks about past experiences and how one can learn from them to live a fulfilling life. Throughout the piece, the speaker explores the hurdles he has encountered and realizes that those obstacles have translated into tools he can use in the future. Overall, the speaker is optimistic and inspiring, as he reflects on the past to grow as an individual, while anticipating any challenges that will arise. This illustrates the one must embrace their history before they can love themselves in the present and the future. The speaker reminisces and attempts to puzzle out how past events have shaped him into the person he has become.
In both Blake’s poem To Tirzah, found in his Songs of Experience, and Baudelaire’s poem Obsession, found in The Flowers of Evil, there is a recurring theme of redemption portrayed through religious imagery. In To Tirzah, the speaker addresses a woman, most probably named Tirzah, talking about sin and relating this to the contrast between his mortality and religiosity. In Obsession, the speaker addresses nature, speaking to the woods, the ocean, and the night, comparing them to the divine. Therefore, both Blake’s and Baudelaire’s poems juxtapose the mortal and spiritual through alluding to religious imagery and texts. Despite this, they reach vastly different conclusions concerning redemption.
The poem uses faith to show how no matter what happens in life the words that god gives everyone are forever. In the poem “Spoken Into Creation,” the writer uses symbolism, similes, and metaphors to indicate that God’s words have a powerful meaning in life. Song compares with a simile to portray that people can influence someone else's life with their words. People have to be careful because words can have a very big impact in life. Song uses, “Gouged out by a single sentence like a lion licking every gazelle bone clean.” (Song, 13).
Most of the time there are topics that can have multiple means, because well, people interpret things in many different ways. So having poems with biblical illusions would be nothing new; in fact it has been around for centuries. The only thing is you shouldn’t be quick to think that each poem that uses biblical illusion would be about the same things. Each poem could clearly mention the bible but at the same time have almost nothing in common because there are so many ways to interpret it, or even manipulate the stories to tell a different one. If you take and look at three very famous, well written poems you will be able to see that even though all use biblical illusions to tell their stories, they almost have nothing in common.
After closer inspection this is a reference to Mark 10:31: "But many that are first shall be last, and the last first." (BibleGateway). This line in poem talks about people who change to fit the new development of society, in this case, will succeed those who cannot break their mindset of the now old times. In his publication of "What Bob Dylan Means to Literature, and to Song. ", Carl Scott also picks up on this as he talks about all the biblical based references in his songs, "...with a strain of philosophy –like and often Bible-based reflection found in a number of the old-time songs."
William Blake was, of course, one of them, indirectly trying to influence the political authorities and society, in general, to change the laws on children’s working obligations and rights by subtle writings and illustrations. “During the latter half of his long life the whole world was in turmoil of wars and bloody revolutions. The prophetic spirit in poetry was despised and neglected. [...] Politics had become a selfish gamble for power in which the interests and lives of the people were ruthlessly sacrificed. The organized churches were, in Blake's mind, and perhaps truly, the greatest curse of the age” (Clarke, 1929, p.