解读《老虎》的革命象征意义

解读《老虎》的革命象征意义 ,作者简介,韩昉，女，河北医科大学外语教学部讲师，硕士研究生，研究方向:英语语 言文学;阎伟静，女，河北医科大学外语教学部讲师，硕士研究生，研究方向:英语语言文 学。 Han FangYan Weijing (Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050017) ,Abstract,As one of the earliest and greatest figures of Romanticism, William Blake is famous for his mysterious imagination, symbolism and spirit of revolution. “The Tyger”, a classic poem in Songs of Experience, has been taken as a symbolic poem and is continuously reconsidered by the critics. The paper intends to interpret the symbolic meaning of “The Tyger” as the revolutionary force. In brief, it defends the conclusion from the three perspectives: William Blake’s experience, poetry and the content of “The Tyger”. ,Key words,The Tyger,symbolism,revolutionary force ,中图分类号, I106.4,文献标识码, A,文章编号, 1672-8610(2013)08-0064-03 I. Introduction As a British poet, William Blake occupies an important and distinct place in the literature of the entire world. In fact, largely due to his work’s idiosyncratic and unorthodox nature, William Blake was unappreciated and lived in near poverty during his own lifetime. Misunderstanding shadowed his career as a writer and artist. Today, however, Blake is widely regarded as one of England’s great figures of art and literature and one of the most inspired and original painters of his time. His verse and artwork has become part of the wider movement of Romanticism in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century European culture. For example, Harold Bloom regards him as an origin of modernity in Romanticism: “Modern poetry, in English, is the invention of Blake and Wordsworth.”[1]16 The poet Wordsworth also commented that “there is something in his madness which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”[2]184 William Blake is not only a great poet, but also a talented painter and visionary mystic. Blake proclaims the supremacy of the imagination over the rationalism and materialism of the eighteenth century. In defiance of 18th-century neoclassical conventions, he privileged imagination and symbolism over reason in the creation of both his poetry and images, asserting that ideal forms should be constructed not from observations of nature but from inner visions. Thus powerful imagination is evident in every aspect of Blake’s work, especially in his masterpieces Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. There are various opinions on the symbolic meaning of “The Tyger”, a famous poem in Songs of Experience. Some feel puzzled about what “The Tyger” stands for. Since the poem was relates to the events of the French Revolution, why Blake appeared to praise God at the beginning but fell into conflict with himself in the end. Professor Wang Zuoliang commented on this, saying “Obviously, there is a praise on the God in this poem.” “But it seems that the focus point is not on the worship of the God, … What the poet deeply felt was the great destructive force symbolized by the tiger. … A poet, in 1794 or so, who was sympathetic to the revolution and sensitive to the current political situation, praised the destructive force. This might be the revolutionary violence represented by the French people.”[3]616 This paper intends to prove that the image of “The Tyger” symbolizes the revolutionary power. ?. William Blake’s Experience In William Blake’s time, Great changes took place in English society. Because of the Industrial Revolution which began in the 18th century, England had become a scene of complicated social contradictions. Marx described the social situation, saying that “about 1750 the yeomanry had disappeared, and so had, in the last decade of the 18th century, the last trace of the common land of the agricultural laborer.”[4]147 The landless peasants went to the cities and became workers who owned nothing except labor and had to work long hours for low wages. All the working people lived in dire poverty, mercilessly exploited by the ruling class. Throughout the eighteenth century, numerous uprisings broke out in different parts of England. In rural areas the expropriated peasants protested against the Enclosure Movement; meanwhile, in towns and cities workers’ struggle broke out, finding expression in the spontaneous movement of the Luddites, or “frame-breakers”, who broke their master’s machines to show their hatred of the capitalists and capitalist exploitation. William Blake’s personal experience is also a reflection of the contemporary society. Because of poverty, he had no opportunity to receive formal education in the usual sense. Since he was young, Blake began to earn his livings as an engraver of illustrations for various publishers. However, he was never prosperous in this business and remained in poverty all his life. The suffering aroused his hatred to the merciless bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes and profound sympathy for the common people. Blake hated the effects of growing industrialism, antirevolutionary turmoil and repression in England, looking forward to the establishment of a New Jerusalem “in England’s green and pleasant land”. Furthermore, during his time, the two great revolutions—the American Revolution for independence and French Revolution broke out. The influence soon swept all over Europe and the old aristocratic system seemed increasingly outmoded and restrictive. “once the political debate had been opened in this way, the radical ideas that had lain dormant since the seventeenth century were revived among literate artisans and working men, including William Blake.”[5]52 As a nonconformist, Blake was associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day, such as Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft. He thought that “Tom Paine is a better Christian than the Bishop.”[5]58 The acute struggle was reflected in Blake’s writing. For instance, in works such as The French Revolution and America, a Prophecy, Blake saw the war as a struggle between liberty and despotism and as presaging the European revolutions of the 1790s. Visions of the Daughters of Albion and Europe, a Prophecy expressed his opposition to the English monarchy and to 18th-century political and social tyranny in general. During the period of revolution, the great poet came to maturity and produced one of his most important works. Compared with early works, Songs of Experience is a much maturer book that deals with topics of corruption and social injustice. His revolutionary thought had been strengthened, for this collection of poems drew vivid pictures of neediness and distress and the misery of the poor. The poet was conscious of “some blind hand” crushing the life of man, as man crushes the fly, and wished to free the readers from “mind-forg’d manacles”. He commended that salvation should come through passionate revolt, through revolution. Therefore, in respect of social and personal background, it is reasonable to interpret “The Tiger” as a symbol of revolutionary force. ?. William Blake’s Poetry William Blake thought that “without contrast there is no progress”. The idea can be found in his two little collections of poems Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Comparative studies of the poems in the two collections can help the readers to see the contrast which marks a progress in his outlooks on life and the universe. Songs of Innocence shows life as it seems to innocent children, while Songs of Experience tells of a mature person’s realization of pain and terror in the universe. Some interpret Songs of Innocence in a straightforward fashion, considering it primarily a children’s book. It is probably because that the poet paints a naive, childish world, which is ignorant of affairs of human life. Here everything seems to be in harmony. A scene of joy in England is portrayed under Blake’s pen. Poor people have happy relationship with the upper class, “all the little ones leape’d & shouted & laugh’d” as described in Blake’s “Nurse’s Song”. On “Holy Thursday” tens of thousands of innocent children rush into the church to raise their voice and sing songs to heaven. There is no racial discrimination; even the black boys could share the blessing of God. The poet expresses his delight in the sun, the hills, the insects and the flowers, in the innocence of the child and of the lamb. In this land, the God is always with men. For anyone, like the chimney sweeper, “if he’d be a good boy, he’d have God for his father & never want joy”, and “if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.”[6]189 As for the symbolic meaning of “The Lamb”, there is little argument. The Bible says that God created men; all men are God’s little Lambs. Thus God likes every ordinary man and he is always together with men. God blesses men and men worship God, so that a great harmony by the joint combination of God and men is made. However, in Songs of Experience, the first glimpse of the world, a picture of light, harmony, peace and love no longer exists. The readers can easily find hints at parody or critique in its seemingly naive and simple lyrics. In this work the world is also seen from a child’s point of view, but they function as parables of adult experience. Experience had brought a fuller sense of the power of evil, and of the great misery and pain of the people’s life. In this period, religious and political issues were intimately connected in this book because of the conservative posture of the established church and ideological use to which it put Christian doctrine. The church is no more than a cruel and cold hell. In “A Little Boy Lost”, the boy, only because of a tiny mistake, was seized by the priest, stripped to his shirt, bound in an iron chain and was burned alive. Neither the kindest God nor the saddest mother could find this boy any longer. However, older generations are still deceived by religion, and continue to “praise god &his priest & king, who make up a heaven of our misery,”[6]189 leaving the little boys who could not even pronounce clearly and correctly in the snow. Blake’s hatred of the persecution of church and clergymen is remarkably noticed. In this same land, “the sun does never shine” and “it is eternal winter there.”[7]195 Poverty prevails in England, and the phenomenon of prostitution can be found everywhere. As one of the representative poems in Songs of Experience, “The Tyger” presents the maturity of Blake’s technique and spirit. By highly praising the positive image of the tiger, Blake celebrates the success of the French Revolution and openly takes a challenge to the authority of God and religion in reality. For that reason, through examining the progression and themes of William Blake’s poetry, “The Tyger” represents the revolutionary power. ?. William Blake’s “The Tyger” William Blake is never forgotten as an artist. The poem “The Tyger” as a part of Songs of Experience is Typical for Blake’s poems: long, flowing lines and violent energy, combined with aphoristic clarity and moments of lyric tenderness. Blake was not blinded by conventions, but approached his subjects sincerely with a mind unclouded by current opinions. In the poem, he approves of free love, and sympathizes with the actions of the French revolutionaries. In the first stanza, the tiger has clearly become a symbol of all that is most terrifying. With the repetitive words “tyger”, the reader could have an image of a shining tiger with a clear outlook moving in the dark forests, which possesses complete freedom and power. This stanza then significantly ends with a question, highly arousing curiosity and subtly introduces the theme of mystery. It suggests that the creator of anything as terrifying as the tiger must be a creator whose power goes beyond our human capability. The stanza explores the mystery of creation and the extraordinary complexity of life. Then in the body of the poem, William Blake subscribes to a creation myth, making the reader realize the immensity of the creative act. The second stanza continues to work with similar images. Although in a sense the question of the first stanza is asked again, there is progression. In this stanza, the poet emphasizes the distance that separates this creator from human beings. The tiger with his tawny coat and flashing eyes is like fire in the jungle. The questions convey a feeling of awe. In order to find the fire of tiger’s eyes, the creator goes through “distant deeps or skies”, which represents the pain and hardship revolutionaries had suffered to seek for the truth of revolution. Paralleled with the second, the third and the fourth stanzas continue the image of the forge and emphasize the role of strength and intelligence in creation. “Hammer”, “chain”, “anvil”, “grasp” symbolize the fierce struggle between classes, and “furnace” represents revolutionary furnace. The poet reminds the readers again of the frightful strength of the tiger, suggesting that the idea that Christian God both creates and controls everything has been shattered. In the fifth stanza Blake’s fondness for contrasts is again encountered, for playing off one thing against its opposite. It reflects the confusing social reality. In France, corrupted ruling class was defeated by revolutionary people, while reactionary force was reluctant to commit their failure and behaved more frantically. Like the “stars” in the poem, although they were forced to “throw down their spears”, they still weep for their defeat, preparing to suppress the French Revolution and the democratic movements in England. Moreover, these four sentences contradict the traditional biblical image of a good and loving God. In his climactic fourth line from the heavenly army to the dread creator himself, the poet uses two tag questions to deny the quality of the Christian God. Why does the God make the gentle lamb also make the terrifying tiger? According to the Bible, God creates everything, but why does he create evil as well as good? The questions remind the readers that it would probably because of God’s evil nature, which enjoys others killing one another and producing pains. Obviously, it appears to be absurd to believe in the Christian God. The poet criticizes the acute social problem with power, authority and precedent and the true value of the classics experienced by a number of his contemporaries. The final stanza repeats the first one except for the difference between the words “could” in the first one and “dare” in the last. It makes use of liberating, pleasant and even proud tone to show off the powerful figure of the tiger. Since the readers have been through the experience of imaging the magnificence and fear-inspiring mysteriousness of the creative act, the poet denies God as the creator and controller and puts tiger above God. Consequently, by analyzing the content and techniques of the poem, it seems logical to interpret “The Tyger” as the symbol of revolution. William Blake has been recognized as a highly original and important poet, artist and writer, and as a member of an enduring tradition of visionary artists and philosophers, a libertarian, and an uncompromising critic of authoritarianism and orthodoxy. The crucial reality strengthened his motivation to find artistic work in patriotic, nationalistic, militaristic subjects. “The Tyger”, one of William Blake’s most famous poems, is so deep in meaning and wonderful in rhyme and rhythm that it is continuously being reconsidered. “William Blake often expressed regret that his countrymen should ‘trouble themselves about politics’ and stated ‘princes appear to me to be fools House of Commons & Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools they seem to me to be something else beside human life.’ Yet, his poetry is saturated with political concerns.”[8]48 Through the three mentioned respects, the conclusion can be reached, that is, “The Tyger” is the symbol of revolutionary force. William Blake is more of an individualist and iconoclast. By using the power of his pen, he never made his peace, as did his colleagues, with the established church or state. 【 References 】 ,1,David Simpson. 2001. Romanticism, Criticism and Theory,C,//Stuart Curran. British Romanticism. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. [2] 郭群英，毛卓亮.英国文学教程(上),M,.河北教育出版社，1998. [3] 王佐良，等，编.英国文学名篇选注,M,.商务印 书 关于书的成语关于读书的排比句社区图书漂流公约怎么写关于读书的小报汉书pdf 馆，1983. [4] 刘炳善.英国文学简史,M,.河南人民出版社，1993. [5] P. M. S. Dawson. 2001. Poetry in an Age of Revolution,C,//Stuart Curran. British Romanticism. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. [6] William Blake. The Chimney Sweeper,C,//郭群英，毛卓亮，编.英国文学教程(上) . 河北教育出版社，1998. [7] William Blake. Holy Thursday,C,//郭群英，毛卓亮，编.英国文学教程(上) .河北教 育出版社，1998. [8] P.M.S.Dawson. 2001. Poetry in an Age of Revolution,C,//Stuart Curran. British Romanticism. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.