Commentary on The Lamb

                Blake’s The Lamb is a short, simple poem; it consists of two stanzas and talks to a child.  The first stanza is the narrator asking the child who has made him into The Lamb, who has created such a perfect child.  The second and final stanza is the narrator answering his own question: God, who calls himself a lamb, has made both the narrator and the child.

Commentary on The Tyger

                The Tyger is almost a rebuttal to The Lamb, for it details a creature created by God that is the opposite of the Lamb.  The first stanza asks who made the tiger and “thy fearful symmetry?”  The second stanza concerns the tiger’s eyes, and who would have been powerful enough to forge such objects.  Within the third and fourth stanza we see a continuation of the first and second, with the narrator asking who had made the tiger’s body and brain (thoughts.)  The fifth stanza is asking if the tiger’s creator rejoiced after he had made the tiger, and if perhaps he is the same creator who made the lamb.  The last stanza is the first one repeated, leaving us with the question of who made such a terrifying being.

Commentary on The Garden of Love

                Blake’s Garden of Love is a metaphorical poem, possibly for marriage.  The first stanza has the narrator going to the Garden of Love and noticing a Chapel built where he used to play.  The gates of the Chapel are shut and “Thou shalt not” is written on the door.  This causes the narrator to turn the Garden to play with the flowers instead.  When he turns, the garden is filled with graves and tombstones, while priests dressed in black tie his “joys and desires” with briar weeds.

Commentary on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

                Coleridge’s Mariner opens from the point of view of a wedding guest who has been stopped by an old Mariner.  He says he needs to be at the wedding, and that you can even hear the joy of the celebration from here.  The mariner begins his story and the guest attempts to escape, but is hypnotized by the Mariner.  The wedding guest sits on a rock and listens as the Mariner tells of his ship sailing southward until it reaches the equator, upon which point the guest hits himself because he hears the bassoon at the wedding.  The bride is now proceeding into the hall, but still the Mariner tells his tale.  The Mariner tells of a storm that causes the ship to flee south, even unto the South Pole; while there the ice is “mast high,” they see no man or animal, and the ice makes terrifying sounds.  The crew then sees an albatross, which they take as a good omen and treat with hospitality.  The albatross stays with them for nine days until the Mariner kills it.  Part Two of the poem opens with the Mariner’s ship starting northward into the Pacific while the Sun is shrouded in fog and with the crew cursing the Mariner for killing the Albatross, their good luck symbol.  Suddenly the fog lifts, and the crew then praises the Mariner for killing the Albatross, which they now suppose brought the fog.  The ship now is sailing at a fine pace as the first ship to ever sail into “that silent sea.”  The breeze then stops, and the sailors now talk to keep the silence of the sea at bay.  The ship stays motionless for days under the hot sun now.  The sailors have no water and are dying of thirst, only able to watch St. Elmo’s fire or the decomposition of sea life.  Some of the sailors have dreams that tell them of the spirit that had followed them from the South Pole, and in anger at their misfortune hang the dead Albatross around the Mariner’s neck.  The sailors are still thirsty when Part 3 opens and the Mariner spies a speck on the horizon.  He watches the shape dodge a “water-sprite” as it comes nearer, but none of the sailors can talk from their dried mouths.  The Mariner bites into his arm to wet his mouth with blood, crying “A sail! A sail!”  The sailors rejoice, but the Mariner points out: what ship can come forward without tide or wind?  It is almost nighttime, and the ship sails between the Mariner and the Sun.  This gives the Sun the look of being in a dungeon.  The ship has flimsy sails, and as it nears the Mariner sees two crew members:  Death and the lady Life-in-Death.  The lady has red lips, white skin, and golden hair.  Death and the lady play dice for the Mariner, with the lady winning him.  The Sun suddenly disappears, along with all the stars, the only thing visible being the helmsman with his lamp.  Other than the helmsman, the Mariner spies a crescent moon with a star at one of the tips, a sign of evil.  All of the 200 crewmen look at the Mariner one by one, and then drop dead.  He talks of every sailor’s soul that flies past him to “bliss or woe,” just like “the whizz of my cross-bow!”  Part 4 of the poem opens with the wedding guest saying he is afraid that the Mariner is a spirit.  The Mariner reassures him he is alive.  He then relates to the guest that he was the only one left alive and that no saint pitied him.  The Mariner then talks of his envy that the sea creatures should live on while all these sailors lie dead.  The Mariner tries to pray but cannot, and closes his eyes.  He still feels the weight of the curse, and says the dead did not rot or smell, but continued to look at him even in death.  He then says that the curse of an orphan could drag a holy spirit to hell, but that even worse is a dead man’s curse, which he suffered for seven days and nights.  The Mariner wishes to be with the Moon and stars, but talks of his stationary positions on the ship, which is now surrounded by magical red water.  The Mariner then watches the sea creatures and blesses them while not realizing it; he says that by blessing them his saint has started to pity him, and the albatross then falls into the sea from his neck.  Part 5 of the poem has the Virgin Mary putting the Mariner to sleep, dreaming of the bucket on deck being filled with dew.  When he awakes it is raining and he drinks, being so light that he thinks he is a ghost who had died in sleep.  The Mariner then hears a loud wind far away, and the “upper air bursts into life” from fire or some other natural phenomena.  The wind gets louder while the rain pours from a black cloud with the Moon at its edge.  The cloud splits and a torrent of water pours from it, but the wind never reaches the ship.  The dead crew is suddenly reanimated and sails the ship, despite there not being a breeze; the Mariner pulls a rope beside his brother’s son, but never speaks to the crew, who never speak back.  The guest suddenly interjects, saying he is afraid of the Mariner, who quiets him by saying the reanimated crew were not controlled by the spirits of the dead crew but by spirits from heaven.  When it reaches dawn the crew gather around the mast and make “sweet sounds” as they do.  Once they reach the equator the ship then begins to rock back and forth, which causes the blood to rush to the mariner’s head, causing him to pass out.  When the Mariner awakes he hears two daemons discussing him, one asking if it is the same Mariner who was punished by the Polar Spirit and the other saying that the Mariner has been punished, and will be punished more.  Part 6 has the two daemons discussing the Mariner; the first asks how the ship can travel as fast as it is and what the ocean is doing.  The second spirit replies that the ocean is doing what the Moon tells it to, and is obeying by allowing the Mariner’s ship to be sped towards home.  The first spirit then asks why the ship can travel as fast as it is even with the Moon’s instructions.  The second spirit says it is because the air is being cut away from the front of the ship, but that they need to fly away quickly, for when the ship begins to slow the Mariner will begin to awake.  The Mariner awakes in easy weather during the clear night, with the moon high in the sky and the dead men on deck standing together.  The dead men are looking at the Mariner with the curse still in their eyes; the Mariner cannot look away nor pray.  The curse is finally lifted, and the Mariner no longer thinks on his past, for fear of what is there.  A wind begins to blow on the Mariner that is welcoming yet causes him to fear.  The wind drives the Mariner to his home port.  The Mariner cries, and prays that he is truly home or that he dreams this sight forever if he is asleep.  The port is clear, and the Mariner then witnesses each corpse laying on the deck with a seraph standing over each one.  The seraphs depart, causing the Mariner’s heart to sink, but he then hears a cry and spies a boat approaching.  The Mariner hears the Pilot and the Pilot’s Boy, but also hears the Hermit, a priest who can help him to get rid of his guilt.  Part 7 opens by describing the Hermit, who prays daily and loves to talk to foreign sailors.  The Pilot and Boy think the lights strange and fear them, but the Hermit prods them to sail on.  As they come close to the ship the Mariner does not speak, but hears the ship creak.  The ship suddenly sinks, which stuns the Mariner.  He is picked up by the Pilot’s boat, which circles round and round the whirlpool.  The Mariner moves his lips, which scares the Pilot and causes the Hermit to pray.  The sight of these occurrences causes the Pilot’s Boy to go mad, and when the Mariner grabs the oars to row, he says, “The Devil knows how to row.”  The boat reaches land and the Mariner begs the Hermit to absolve him of his sins, who asks what kind of man the Mariner is.  The Mariner then tells his tale to the Hermit.  He then talks of his lot to walk the earth forever after, telling his story when the agony in his heart prompts him to.  The Mariner then talks of the wedding and the feast surrounding it, saying that it is far better to walk with good company than attend a marriage feast.  The Mariner departs by telling the wedding guest that the man who prays well is the man who loves all of God’s creations.  The poem ends with the wedding guest turning from the bridegroom’s door, and waking up as a “sadder and wiser man” the next morning.