What immortal hand or eye?

"What is your favourite poem?" asks Norm Geras of normblog in one of 50 questions put to bloggers invited to participate in the distinguished Marx scholar's long-running Friday blog profiles series. We were thrilled to be asked to join in the fun and relieved that Norm wanted answers to only 30 of the questions -- you get to pick and choose.  "Who are your sporting heroes?" for example, would have left us speechless, but "What is your favourite poem?" was grist for our blogmill, an opportunity to use a much-loved and much-interpreted poem to sound one of our favorite themes:

I love William Blake's "The Tyger." Dazzling imagery red in tooth and claw makes mincemeat of the peaceable kingdom paradigm.

Here it is in full, illustrated by our own in-house tygers, Baby (above) and Tiny, both with fire burning bright in their eyes as they defended their turf from the intruder yesterday:

The Tyger
(from Songs Of Experience)
By William Blake, 1794

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 

Blake no doubt had in mind an Intelligent Designer, but with or without the God of Abraham, his poetry resonates. Our normblog profile will be published October 21.

Update:  More members of the tooth and claw community now boarding Modulator's Friday Ark.

Comments

[goomp]

I have to doubt the lion and the lamb lie side by side in life, or tiger either. As one who once raised sheep I can also testify that when in the flock sheep exhibit unkindly acts such as butting another in the stomach to drive it away from food that is more plentiful than all can eat. Nature is nature be it human or tiger. I thought Tiny looked the most fearsome.

[bebere]

From "Songs of Experience" (1794):

O rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm. That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed. Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love. Does thy life destroy.

I keep coming back to this one due to work or love situations or because of the current fruit tree blight that's caused me to not have enough crabs to make jelly this year.

Congrats on the profile! Can't wait to read it.

[pb]

Juxaposition of pets and poetry, priceless.

[Teresa]

You do that so well! If anyone asked me about my favorite poem... I'd be at a complete loss - I never studied any after maybe early high school and didn't enjoy it then (although that might have had something to do with my teachers as opposed to the poetry). But that was the perfect poem to show off the kitties! Can't wait to see the whole interview.

[neo-neocon]

Great choice, great poem.

When I was asked the question, I could have chosen any one of a thousand poems--that's how many favorites I have (although for me, the sporting question was easy, easy!)

But how about this one, Burns's "To A Mouse, "another wonderful masterpiece involving an animal: http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/To_A_Mouse.htm

[Elisson]

A classic poem, framed by The Best Kitty Photographs in the Known Universe™.

Nature, red in tooth and claw,
Says, "Sissy Willis! Show us more
Of your snazzy photographs!
Classic Art (and good for laughs!)"

[Paco]

Hello! Paco, from Spain.
I love "The Tyger". My favorite poem is "Si el hombre pudiera decir lo que ama" (Luis Cernuda).

[ugg ultra tall]

Your blog is very beautiful! I like! Oh, you have a special creative ah! I hope you find time to share with me! Ah tell me your experience