Tina Ta Dis 1H
"Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy" (ll. 17-20)
author: Blake
Blake reverses the normal view of Angels as good and pure, to evil.
The Angel represents the conventional Church and their views. In the quotation above, the Angel tries to trick Tom by claiming that if man does what he should, God will protect him. But in order to gain God's love, man must suffer during his life and only be happy once he is dead.
The poem proposes a different way of thinking, separate from the Church. It encourages questioning and challenging authority. Through looking beneath the surface of the poem one can see that the Angel (Church) is trying to control Tom (man) to believe what he is told. Man will be kept under control if he does not question and form his own opinions.
see lecture notes 1/17 and Norton vol D p. 85
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment