Friday, September 17, 2010

Woo hoo! - Batman vs. Blake = A- for me!

One paper down, six to go. I got an A- on the paper my Blake and Batman paper.

(Why yes, my constant cartoon habit served me well.)

My thesis was that "The Tyger" is more about the darkness that preys upon man from without, than the darkness within man. To me, this poem seemed to rail against the unfairness of life and the bad things that happen against which there is no defense but submission and progression.

This seemed rather self-evident to me, but I was raised on the mantra of "Life sucks, get on with it." This is to say, stop whining, and get to work fixing what ails you. Could be either West Texan or Southern Baptist, I'm not sure which, but I suspect the first more than the second, though there's definite hints of "bad things happen so you have the opportunity to rely on God who will help you through" in the theology.

I suspect Blake was extremely frustrated with his lot in life, his unrecognized genius, his constant monetary struggles, (and his definite impression that he could lead the world into enlightenment if only people WOULD LISTEN to him. - Frankly, I find it much easier to enjoy his poetry without thinking about Blake the man, because his personality traits aggravate the hell out of me.)

The point is, the poem seems to be asking why there's evil in the world, but my point was that it was from the viewpoint of someone being victimized and preyed upon, rather than from someone who wondered why people did bad things. The use of a man-eating tiger, the use of darkness as a personification, and the definite indictment of whatever being's "daring" created the monster that preys upon mankind.
Those all seemed evidence to me that Blake was writing from a victim's point of view, than a philosopher's. I read a lot of "Why *me*!" in the poem.

(which is not to say that I don't like the poem. It's been one of my favorites since junior high.)

Batman came in as evidence of the modern interpretation that Blake was talking about the darkness in mankind, asking why evil people exist, given an episode involving a genetically spliced Tiger-man named Tygrus quoted those lines, though as an indictment against the evils of man playing God with genetic tampering.

What got me, was she said this was an original paper and a very unconventional thesis. I've been trying to figure out if she meant it or if she was blowing grey clouds of encouragement up online-student derriere all day, cause I thought I was being very conventional. Goes to show I have no sense of normal I suppose.

Thoughts?

BP

1 comment:

  1. Fer god's sake don't ask ME what's normal analytical thought about evil and such like! I can't analyze my way out of a paper bag. You go, girl, and don't you be doubting your teachers. Good on ya!

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