Our Father who Art in Heaven
In keeping with the whole religion theme of the week, today’s poem is Blake’s famous theological debate. He writes about the imposing, frightening tiger and then asks if it was created by the same one who made the lamb. God who is good…does he also bring the bad…or is the bad: the tiger, and, I would submit, ALL ANIMALS, wrought in the fiery “deeps” by a redder more pitchforky entity? It always reminds me of that great scene in The Thorn Birds where the priest tells Meggie that God will see them through after a fire has destroyed much of their land and killed her father and brother.
Meggie Cleary: That dear and gentle God who has taken from me
everyone that Ive loved most in The world. One by one. Frank, and
Hal… and Stuie… and my father. And you, of course. Always you.
God is merciful… he left me no one else to grieve.
Ralph de Bricassart: He is merciful, I know you cant see that now,
but he is. He spared The rose. He sent The rain.
Meggie Cleary: Oh Ralph… who sent The fire?
BURN!
No pun intended.
As a little Catholic girl, I was raised to believe that God was good. I never blamed God for my poverty and such, just prayed that God would get me out of it. Even today, I find that my instinct is always first to blame myself, and my spectacularly poor decision making, for the ills in my life than shake my fist at the skies. But more often than not, I simply assume that what I think it bad is just good come in a form that I don’t recognize yet.
A cow is scary and off-putting, but a cheeseburger with bacon strips is Delish!
Once, after a particularly trying day, which ended in a parking ticket, I was so furious that I uttered a sentence which began with a phrase that I hardly ever use: “I wish I’d never.”
I wish I’d never learned that stupid game.
I wish I’d never met that girl.
I wish I’d never taken this horrible job.
“But then you wouldn’t have met me!”
And I had to laugh.
You can’t have the burger without the cow. Though…the burger will make you fat and clog your arteries, so…um…
We’re all connected, each success and failure leads us to our end, is our destiny.
The tiger and the lamb have the same maker, but serve different purposes. The tiger exists to eat men stupid enough to raise them in New York City apartments and the lamb makes our gyros delicious.
At least I think that’s what Blake was trying to say.
The Tyger by William Blake
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 in thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art?
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand, and 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 watered 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?
November 11th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
This might not be comforting to all but I kind of see G-d’s creation whether bad or good as shrouded in mystery, we don’t know all the whole plan. Also I think “bad” energy is something we need in this world too. For example if we didn’t have sexual drive, we wouldn’t be able to create babies. I think it’s how we use the “bad” energy is what is important. (Not that I see sex as a bad thing.) I think I’m going to explain this in person, because explaining in this comment is hard and is becoming convoluted.
Burns sees the Tyger as the personification of evil – but I can’t say that. The tiger is beautiful and majestic, it’s powerful – qualities that I don’t see having problems with. Lambs can be annoying, dirty, passive – so I guess what I’m saying is one coin, two sides.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Wow, I can’t write today for shit. Um, I really need to re-read what I write before hitting “submit.”
*Burns sees the Tyger as the personification of evil – but I don’t see it that way. The tiger is beautiful and majestic, and it’s powerful – qualities that I admire and I think are godly. Lambs can be annoying, dirty, passive – not qualities I associate with G-d or model of behavior – so I guess what I’m saying is one coin, two sides.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Satan is still the creation of G-d. Okay, now I’m done.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
hahaha Burns! You watch too much Simpsons. But I agree with you, I think it’s all made my God. I was always puzzled about why Blake seems to struggle with it…maybe his kid got eaten by a tyger.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Um… God is nothing more than a force that inflicts pain, doubt, hurt, and guilt. All of this to steer you into being a behaved human being. Follow the line, all straight and shit… is how I figure it.
13 years of Catholic education makes you a little cynical after a while. Actually, I’m just so tired of trying to figure it out, I just make shit up
November 11th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I think I was thinking about Byron and not Blake. Oy. If only English Professors can see me now. Oy.
Also, I will now write “tyger” instead of tiger. I like the “y” #bringitback
November 11th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Ok, but then I’m spelling it sexi #bringitback
November 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Justin already brought it. Talk to him.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I was thinking of Robert Burns – Scottish poets confuse me. Yay, I’m English major who knows how to use google. D’oh.
A Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burns
O, my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve’s like a melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Or the phrase tyger tyger burning bright, stuck the word burning in your head. And where is Angela? I see how it is, she’ll only read me if I’m published in a book. Racist.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Angela went to dinner with someone who is published and decided they were classier than all my sex talk and your animal-hate.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Sounds about right. We’re pretty classless.
November 12th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Ah, songs of innocence and experience. My English Major days.
Life was so easy when my only job was to assign a bullshit meaning to some long-dead poet’s words.
We should be able to pause our lives at any point and live in that world. Although, if that world didn’t have the promise of tomorrow anymore, maybe it wouldn’t have been as fun as it was.
Why is sex bad energy?
November 12th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Sex isn’t necessarily bad energy, but it’s the opposite of the calm, controlled, civilized energy. Sex can be aggressive, animalistic, and down right dirty – so it’s not necessarily “bad” but it’s something that can be seen as the opposite of whatever “the lamb” represents. Sexuality is something humans need to channel into something loving and positive, since it can very quickly turn into an ugly situation.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Yeah I am totally racist against non-published people. Either that or I had the day off yesterday and didn’t plaster myself in front of the 21st century boob tube.
Anyhoo….I gave up the “I wish I never” thoughts along time ago. My mom always says “everything happens for a reason” and I truly believe that. Maybe you got that parking ticket that day so that you would stand there and bitch about it silently, contemplate ripping it up, get in the car and punch the steering wheel a few times. But then in the few minutes you wasted freaking out about ticket you could have missed getting sideswiped by a Mack truck a little bit down the highway. Or, you could get broken up with by some super jerk but then that frees you up to you ask out an IT hottie out in the elevator. God knows what’s up.
Also, all that crappy stuff paves the way for good stuff. I truly believe this saying that I made up: “We have to suffer for our joy.” #copyrightthatshit
November 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Are you punishing me for my day of lateness by not responding? Can I get a little help, Pdov?
November 12th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I’m going to use “We have to suffer for our joy.” and always acredited to you!
That story about an IT guy seems familiar….where have I heard it before?
As mentioned on twitter I think Dawn has been swallowed by her job, either that or she fell asleep.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I’m gonna go with fell asleep.
Maybe I should have used Dawn’s patented #truestory hashtag after mentioning the IT/elevator story.
I hereby grant you, and Dawn if she every resurfaces, full use of my slogan (with proper accrediation, of course). #wand
November 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Hahhah suffer our joy is definitely a keeper! And of course I fell asleep!
#wand undeaded you right away; in fact, I only deaded you in the first place due to my classlessness. #sawy #thisiswhyyouareourleader
November 12th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Next time we’ll have to coordinate your sleeping all day with my days off so there are no more accidental deadenings.
If we ever do start a royal blog our tagline could be “Suffering for our joy.”