Ability to resist

• The Little Girl Lost - 'While the lioness/ Loosed her slender dress/ And naked they conveyed/ To caves the sleeping maid'

  • dress = symbol of restriction & shame - dress hides body which we are taught to repress
  • by removing dress there is a sense of vulnerability but also lack of shame - sense Lyca is starting spiritual revolution - about to recapture ethos of eden by adopting this eve like state being naked & without shame
• The Little Girl Found - ‘But their fears allay/ When he licks their hands,/ And silent by them stands’

  • shifts perception
  • parents realise they are equal - there is no power dynamic so no reason to be afraid
  • wasn't a lion it was Jesus all along - once they are able to not fear they can see clearly
  • resign role as authority figures & look to to other authority figures
  • new spiritual guide teaches us to find heaven on earth & recapture ethos of eden
  • Someone to be praised but not someone to be feared (unlike urizen who demands worship through fear)
• The Little Girl Found - 'In my palace deep' 'To this day they dwell/ In a lonely dell'

  • parents have spiritual revolution but have to be removed from society because society is still fallen & corrupt
  • revolution has to come from within - you have to seek it out yourself when ready
  • we have capability to recapture ethos of eden we just have to acknowledge & question restrictions of fallen world & work to change our perceptions - not everyone ready
• Parents perceptive shift in The Little Girl Found

  • parents educated by innocent child - had to value her innocence rather than see it as something that makers her exploitable, & have had to resign role as authority figures
• Introduction (E) - 'And fallen, fallen light renew!' 'Arise from out the dewy grass'

  • call to action from the bard who urges humanity to awaken from spiritual inertia
  • speaks with urgency & hope - we are being presented w an opportunity for liberation, a chance to reclaim what has been lost
  • 'arise' - the power for transformation lies within us - we must take active action & choose whether to remain in spiritual slumber or awaken to our potential for vision, freedom & resistance
  • we may have internalised limiting beliefs but we also possess the means to break fee from them - if only we have the will to act
• Earth's Answer - 'Break this heavy chain'

  • earth pleads for liberation, calling on humanity to take responsibility for its own freedom
  • currently humanity has internalised its own oppression
  • people are trapped & complicit, unable to see beyond the system that controls them
  • Blake highlights that those in power will not free the oppressed, liberation must come from within
  • humanity has capacity for revolution, but feels powerless because it has lost touch with imagination, desire & emotional truth
  • revolution possible but requires a radical reawakening, reclaiming spiritual & emotional wholeness, & breaking free from ideological chains that bind us
• Tiger - 'Tiger Tiger, burning bright,/ In the forests of the night' 

  • tiger represents energy, fire & creative force - the opposite of passive obedience - 
  • Energy is awe-inspiring, not evil - burns bright within the darkness of our ignorance, offering inspiration & potential for potential 
  • 'Did he who made the Lamb make thee?' - both gentleness & ferocity come from same divine source - both are valid and essential parts of human nature - reminded 'without contraries there is no progression' 
  • In fallen world, we’ve internalised fear of energy & passion - we see tiger as threatening because of our ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ - blake challenges this perception - tiger isn't evil, just powerful - we must reclaim that power to resist repression
• Tiger - Tools used to create the tiger - ‘hammer’ ‘chain’ ‘anvil’

  • Imagery of tools evokes intense power involved in tiger’s creation 
  • Tools symbolise the forces of creativity & resistance, demonstrating ability forge something powerful in the face of constraint 
  • Blake admires rebel figure who dared to shape such a fierce being - creation is an act of bold rebellion, resisting quiet obedience 
  • By extension these tools reflect the strength within humanity - wee too possess the power to create, resist & revolutionise - yet we are discouraged from using power & taught to fear or suppress our strength - Blake encourages us to reclaim tools & recognise capacity to resist control & reshape society 
• Tiger - shift from ‘Could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ to ‘Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?’

  • Shift from simply having skill or ability to create, to having courage, energy, and rebellious desire to do so - Blake challenges us to have the will to resist & embody the same daring spirit as the creator 
  • We must reclaim how we perceive power & passion & see them not as threats but as essential tools for liberation & resistance 
• A Divine Image - 'Cruelty has a human heart,/ And Jealousy a human face'

  • all of these virtues are linked to humanity - in the fallen world, these negative traits dominate & define us
  • institutions like church reinforce idea that these traits are natural or necessary - however they are not essential to humanity - only present in fallen world where they are perpetuated & encouraged - if we returned to edenic state they would be obsolete
  • Blake suggests we are not destined to live in this condition forever - there is potential for change or redemption
• A Divine Image - 'The human form, a fiery forge;/ The human face, a furnaced seal'

  • industrial & violent imagery suggests human traits have been forged by the world we live in - humanity builds its own destruction
  • terror, associated w the human form, reflects how fear is used as a tool of control by institutions to maintain power & suppress resistance
  • humans are active participants in oppression - instead of creating harmony we have built a repressive & damaging world
  • yet this means we have potential to redirect that energy toward more constructive & creative ends
  • human's, like the tiger, can be awe-inspiring & powerful when energies are used w vision & purpose
  • humanity possesses enormous creative power - but in corrupted world that power is used destructively - Blake's vision suggests if we reclaim energy for good we can create world rooted in justice & true divinity