Emily Lam Poetic Explication A HBL

Big Question: Then What do I have to do with thee?

Whos thee?

meter: iambic tetrameter: makes it easier to read

8 syllable to 7 something with birth is 8 and something dead is 7, taking away

elision to preserve meter

substitution keep it light then next line is dark, "born" --> "consumed"

again 7 syllables, this time change in tone from the grace of God to the evils of life and moral life

endstopped: this is in almost every stanza breaks up into more parts more declarative

break between two paragraphs first talk about God's creation of man and woman biblical references and then moves to life on earth, the physical part of life

spondee-->double stress: "cruelty didst mould my heart", "false self-decieving" very harsh stanza critisizing mother for not teaching him christianity, tainting him with other teachings

Rhyme Scheme: BB in the beginning and ends with BB

Imagery

image of earth and nature, beauty, tainted with death

imagine a ghost like soul very light and free

morning--> usually mentioned with something new, everything is revived in the morning

evening--> night is dark gloomy paired with death

tears are wet, and salty, and not pleasant feeling

T,B,B,T: starts with rising then falling then rising again

tears are physically blinding

describes the things used to detect sense yet does describe the senses: "nostrils, ears, tongue, eyes; shows that the senses are very important in the perception of the world around us, it helps us understand things in our own way

also very physical can touch them, going back to "mother of my mortal part"

imagining clay in mouth is bitter, dirty physically can't talk

Figurative Language

allusion: poem alludes to adam and eve

anything mortal dies and decomposes with the earth, also birth rhymes with earth meaning a mortal birth a physical birth that ends compared to immortal/eternal life

once die, soul "rises" to heavan free from body--> resurrection

Apostrophe: who is he talking to?

personification

metonomy Adam and Eve

Alliteration: s sound like snakee garden of eden, evil snake

adam and eve, only shameful when turned to the devil and ate from the tree of knowledge, Aware now of their nakedness, they make coverings of fig leaves, and hide from the sight of God. prideful before ate

made in the morning and evening dies, quickness of life and death

God's mercy changed caused death as just a death of the body, but really have eternal life in heavan or hell

Alliteration: connection between work and weep, both pain and suffering

work and weep in a world because they ate from the tree of knowledge, if not they would have lived in the Garden of Eden forever pleased

Personification: mercy can't physically turn death into sleep, also death cannot be turned into sleep, death is final unless God will it not to be

stanza full of contradicting words: shame and pride, morn and evening

Alliteration: "mother of my mortal part" the child is a part of the mother they are connected. The child has been shaped by this "mother" connection causes the person to be upset because the closer you are with someone the more impact you have. Since the "mother" turned the child away from christianity her child becomes angry that his mother taught him other ways of life that are corrupt in his mind

talking about someone or thing that gave birth to the person physically shaped them, physical body

"mother" is the person's physical parent, shaping them physically. While God is the shaper spiritually. "mother" made him blind to the love of christ, felt decieved. Without living life through christ his experiences though his senses: heart, smell, sight, and sound were awful "self-decieving" "cruelty"

personification: cruelty mould heart, self decieving tears, senseless clay

Synecdoche: part of a bigger whole, part of a person, basically his whole life body and mind was affected because he wasn't introduced to christianity from his "mother"

start and end on "And" and "Didst" shows the two are closely connected even though in different stanzas

without the belif of christainity things that the person says was senseless and could be easily molded by others and also keeps him from talking, the way he talks is very senseless not glorifying God

betray mortal life, understand that there is something to live for beyond this life, believe in heaven and hell

Jesus died for our sins, "set me free"

at first thought "thee" meant devil now think maybe another meaning?

Who is mother? Is it humanity? or is it really the mother?

Apostrophe: Who is he talking to? rhetorical?

Ambigious ends with a question mark

Tirzah is a Hebrew word meaning "she is my delight." In the Bible it is the name of a woman, one of the daughters of Zelophehad. After the death of their father, the five sisters went to Moses and asked him for hereditary rights (Numbers 27:1-11). Moses brought their plea to God, and it was granted. To this day, women in Judaism have the right to inherit property. (wiki) this refers to a physical materialism, dedicating the poem to Tirzah when he is about to die and confessing his life without God has been wrong

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free from sins, what do i have to do with the devil?

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The sexes rose to work and weep.

The sexes sprung from shame and pride,

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Blowed in the morn, in evening died;

But mercy changed death into sleep;

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William Blake

To Tirzah

Whate'er is born of mortal birth

Must be consumed with the earth,

To rise from generation free:

Then what have I to do with thee?

The sexes sprung from shame and pride,

Blowed in the morn, in evening died;

But mercy changed death into sleep;

The sexes rose to work and weep.

Thou, mother of my mortal part,

With cruelty didst mould my heart,

And with false self-deceiving tears

Didst blind my nostrils, eyes, and ears,

Didst close my tongue in senseless clay,

And me to mortal life betray.

The death of Jesus set me free:

Then what have I to do with thee?

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William Blake's illustration:

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From Blake's illustration this break seems like the man begins to believe in God because he is about to die and the second half of the poem is the regrets and negative ingluence other forces had on him during his life

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Metaphor: there is an extended metaphor