The Tyger
By William Blake
01 The Tyger.
02 Tyger Tyger. burning bright,
03 In the forests of the night;
04 What immortal hand or eye.
05 Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
06 In what distant deeps or skies.
07 Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
08 On what wings dare he aspire?
09 What the hand, dare sieze the fire?
10 And what shoulder, & what art,
11 Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
12 And when thy heart began to beat,
13 What dread hand? & what dread feet?
14 What the hammer? what the chain,
15 In what furnace was thy brain?
16 What the anvil? what dread grasp.
17 Dare its deadly terrors clasp:
18 When the stars threw down their spears
19 And water'd heaven with their tears:
20 Did he smile his work to see?
21 Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
22 Tyger Tyger burning bright,
23 In the forests of the night;
24 What immortal hand or eye,
25 Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
I found “The Tyger” by William Blake incredible. After ruminating upon it, it seems really subversive, but it is very subtle. He is able to package all of his radical theological claims in a children’s poem.
The poem tackles the problem of natural evil—an ethical dilemma that thousands of theologians, philosophers, and everyday citizens have wrangled with since the dawn of civilization. Why do natural tragedies, like earthquakes, tidal waves, and volcanoes, exist? Does this disprove the existence of God? Or is the world naturally evil? It is one of the unanswerable questions of human existence.
Blake discusses this issue in a very interesting way, and covers it all with imagery and symbolism. The “tyger” in this poem represents natural evil; he is terrifyingly huge, cunning, and powerful. But he is part of the natural world. Line 21 asks the underlying question of natural evil: “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” Did God, who created the harmless and innocent (not to mention tasty) lamb, also create the murderous tiger?
However, I would not say Blake is personally criticizing the existence of tigers. The tiger seems to have as much right to live and do his thing as the lamb. The narrator seems to have it wrong. He is so terrified by this animal that he is blinded to the natural cycle of thing. I feel Blake, as a Romanticist, would say the tiger is as beautiful as the lamb because both are of the natural world. We are supposed to see that the narrator is mistaken in his initial judgment of the natural world. Although the tiger can be scary, it’s also awe-inspiring.
We talked briefly in class about how beat-poet extraordinaire Allen Ginsberg would perform this poem live. I’m in an advanced directing class (as a theatre major), and one of our assignments is to devise our own piece. I think I’m going to bring it in, because there are some fascinating elements that would make in a multi-faceted piece of theatre. Obviously, there are the questions concerning natural evil, but then there is the dynamic of the terrified narrator versus the somewhat docile-looking tiger (according to the image on the plate). I think it would be a strong candidate for the basis of a theatrical work. Wow, isn’t it fun to cross-reference classes?
Friday, January 23, 2009
Review: 'Longa Viagem de Volta pra Casa' by Eugene O'Neill
One of the most magical aspects of the on-going Eugene O’Neill festival at the Goodman Theatre happens when a company takes a play by the founding father of American Realism and crams it full of the abstraction and experimentation that has characterized the modern theatre. When badly done, the O’Neill’s Nobel Prize-winning dramas lose coherence and the characters become cardboard cutouts. In the hands of a skillful director and team, however, the themes behind O’Neill’s work become strikingly clear. Experimental takes on these nearly 90-year-old plays can reveal ideas buried deep in O’Neill’s heavy language. Companhia Triptal, hailing from Sao Paolo, Brazil, perform O’Neill’s early “sea play” trilogy (for the first time in the United States) with complexity and an inherent sense of wonder; it’s almost as if they never knew O’Neill was known for his realism.
To be honest, the text of the “sea plays” is not particularly great: they were among O’Neill’s first attempts at writing. The language can be wooden and antiquated. However, Companhia Triptal perform the plays in Portuguese, which has a revitalizing effect on the World War I-era colloquial. The subtitles projected above the stage, on the other hand, need to be rehearsed more. The errors in projecting the subtitles cause a pretty big rift between the audience and the actors. With everything else pumped full of creativity, it seems that they could have done something really awesome with the subtitles.
The real magic in the performance does not come from O’Neill’s language itself. Instead, the staging of the plays and experimentation with the space are the real draws. At one point in Longa Viagem de Volta pra Casa (or The Long Journey Home), the lead character is drugged, and to simulate “the spins” he climbs onto a doorframe and is rapidly spun around. There is live bottle blowing. Wooden crates are stacked up and knocked over. This isn’t merely O’Neill, this is O’Neill in the 21st Century.
O’Neill based his “sea plays” on his experience as a merchant marine in World War I. The Long Journey Home is about the difficulties the sailors faced once they landed ashore. For the metaphor lovers, it’s telling us that you can remove the sailor from the sea, but you can never remove the sea from the sailor. Supposing most of the audience aren’t sailors, Companhia Triptal is telling us that going home is harder than it sounds. The actors embody the themes incredibly, transforming from living statues to humans motivated by love and/or greed and then degenerate to unfeeling automatons. There is a fascinating use of repetition in the play that makes it appear like the story of the play is actually an everyday situation.
Although spinning these plays in a modern light can highlight hidden messages, the abstraction of O’Neill misses a good amount of the time as well. At one point the house lights turn on and this has no effect on the audience besides letting everyone see the people they are seated next too. And sometimes the bizarre physicality makes the characters ungrounded and unbelievable. They lose their reality in a way. O’Neill’s plays depend on his characters, and making the characters too weird conflicts with the text and the audience can’t figure out who to root for.
It takes bravery and intelligence to perform plays that were written before Prohibition. By using the past century of advancement in theatre, Companhia Triptal is able to sniff out relevance. People are still struggling; they are still getting screwed over. By appealing to universals and drawing upon a myriad of theatrical traditions, they can blow the dust off of these early works. It’s pretty amazing these “sea plays’ can pull out emotions almost a century later, but there was a reason O’Neill was awarded four Pulitzer prizes.
Star rating: ***
To be honest, the text of the “sea plays” is not particularly great: they were among O’Neill’s first attempts at writing. The language can be wooden and antiquated. However, Companhia Triptal perform the plays in Portuguese, which has a revitalizing effect on the World War I-era colloquial. The subtitles projected above the stage, on the other hand, need to be rehearsed more. The errors in projecting the subtitles cause a pretty big rift between the audience and the actors. With everything else pumped full of creativity, it seems that they could have done something really awesome with the subtitles.
The real magic in the performance does not come from O’Neill’s language itself. Instead, the staging of the plays and experimentation with the space are the real draws. At one point in Longa Viagem de Volta pra Casa (or The Long Journey Home), the lead character is drugged, and to simulate “the spins” he climbs onto a doorframe and is rapidly spun around. There is live bottle blowing. Wooden crates are stacked up and knocked over. This isn’t merely O’Neill, this is O’Neill in the 21st Century.
O’Neill based his “sea plays” on his experience as a merchant marine in World War I. The Long Journey Home is about the difficulties the sailors faced once they landed ashore. For the metaphor lovers, it’s telling us that you can remove the sailor from the sea, but you can never remove the sea from the sailor. Supposing most of the audience aren’t sailors, Companhia Triptal is telling us that going home is harder than it sounds. The actors embody the themes incredibly, transforming from living statues to humans motivated by love and/or greed and then degenerate to unfeeling automatons. There is a fascinating use of repetition in the play that makes it appear like the story of the play is actually an everyday situation.
Although spinning these plays in a modern light can highlight hidden messages, the abstraction of O’Neill misses a good amount of the time as well. At one point the house lights turn on and this has no effect on the audience besides letting everyone see the people they are seated next too. And sometimes the bizarre physicality makes the characters ungrounded and unbelievable. They lose their reality in a way. O’Neill’s plays depend on his characters, and making the characters too weird conflicts with the text and the audience can’t figure out who to root for.
It takes bravery and intelligence to perform plays that were written before Prohibition. By using the past century of advancement in theatre, Companhia Triptal is able to sniff out relevance. People are still struggling; they are still getting screwed over. By appealing to universals and drawing upon a myriad of theatrical traditions, they can blow the dust off of these early works. It’s pretty amazing these “sea plays’ can pull out emotions almost a century later, but there was a reason O’Neill was awarded four Pulitzer prizes.
Star rating: ***
Monday, January 12, 2009
Resurrection
Hello readers.
It's been a long time.
Half a year by some accounts. I figured the middle of January would be as a good as ever to kick this sucker back into gear. So get ready, and stop crying.
Like most long periods of time, a lot of things have happened in the past six months. Black dude elected president of the United States. I moved back to Chicago. Worked as a happy-go-lucky SOB at an effin' Jamba Juice. Dark Knight continued to be awesome. I'm working hard on set designing a show going up next month. Got a printer, socks, and a coupon for Applebees for Christmas. Turned 21, drank legally. 2008 Olympics, that Michael Phelps. Was in a Brecht show, as well as wrote a 30 page biography chapter about Brecht for the worst class I have ever taken. And the economy tanked like a biznatch.
But we'll get through this together. Hopefully.
Here's to the rebirth of blog.
Yes,
Barry
It's been a long time.
Half a year by some accounts. I figured the middle of January would be as a good as ever to kick this sucker back into gear. So get ready, and stop crying.
Like most long periods of time, a lot of things have happened in the past six months. Black dude elected president of the United States. I moved back to Chicago. Worked as a happy-go-lucky SOB at an effin' Jamba Juice. Dark Knight continued to be awesome. I'm working hard on set designing a show going up next month. Got a printer, socks, and a coupon for Applebees for Christmas. Turned 21, drank legally. 2008 Olympics, that Michael Phelps. Was in a Brecht show, as well as wrote a 30 page biography chapter about Brecht for the worst class I have ever taken. And the economy tanked like a biznatch.
But we'll get through this together. Hopefully.
Here's to the rebirth of blog.
Yes,
Barry
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