I.

Introduction

Poetry or poem is a kind of literary works which has some special characteristics that make it
different with other literary works. Poetry is structured from one or more stanzas that each stanza
consists of one or more lines. Each line is arranged by specially chosen words. Therefore poetry is a
combination of beautiful words that brings special messages. Therefore people will easily get the
messages, besides they can be entertained by reading or listening poem.

There are several kinds of poetry namely Allegory, Ballad, Blank Verse, Burlesque, Elegy, Epic,
Imagery, Lyric, Pastoral, Refrain, Sonnet and so on. Through the history of English poetry, it is known
that the earliest form of poem appeared during Anglo-Saxon Age or Old English Period with the most
popular poem entitled Beowulf, a poem which consists of 3000 lines. This poem became the pioneer
of poem works in the following periods of English Literature. English literature movements have
produced number of talented poets. Nowadays their works are still learned and favored by people.
Some of most popular poets are Geofrey Chaucer in Middle English Period, Sir Thomas Wyatt in
Transition Period, Edmund Spenser in Elizabethan period, John Donne in Puritan Period, John Dryden in
Restoration Period, Alexander Pope in Augustan Period, Thomas Grey in Pre Romantic Period, William
Wordsworth and William Blake in Romantic Period and so many others.

Through this paper we provide a profound analysis of three-selected poems by William Blake.
The analysis encompasses intrinsic and extrinsic elements of poetry. Based on the theory, the intrinsic
elements comprise of: speaker and tone, diction, rhyme, structure, syntax, symbol, figurative language,
theme and imagery. Meanwhile, the analysis of extrinsic elements concern on three big points: the
authors biography as the background of the poem, setting and the critical expert. In this paper we try
to present the clear analysis of A Dream, The Poison Tree, and A Sunflower. We sincerely hope this
paper will help the readers to comprehend the messages of those selected poems, so they will be able
to analyze the elements based on their own opinions. Furthermore hopefully this paper will inspire the
readers to produce great poems.

II.
A.

Analysis of William Blakes Poems

Biography of William Blake
William Blake was born in 1757 in Soho, London, England.
He was the third of seven children. Two of them died in infancy.
Blakes father, James was a hosier. Blake attended school only long
enough to learn reading and writing, leaving at the age of ten, and
was otherwise educated at home by his mother Catherine Wright
Armitage. The Blakes were dissenters, and believed to have
belonged to the Moravian Church. Blake was baptized at St James's
Church, London. The Bible was an early and profound influence on
Blake, and remained a source of inspiration throughout his life. Blake
was an English painter, poet and printmaker. He began writing at an
early age and claimed to have had his first vision, of a tree full of
angels, at age 10. He studied engraving and grew to love gothic art,
which he incorporated into his own unique works. A misunderstood
poet, artist and visionary throughout much of his life, Blake found
admires in life and has been vastly influential since his death in 1827.

Blakes artistic ability became evident in his youth. At age 14 he was sent to Westminster
Abbey to make drawings of tombs and monuments, where his lifelong love of gothic art was seeded.
Also around this time, Blake began collecting prints of artists who had fallen out vogue at the time,
including Durer, Raphael and Michelangelo. In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year
apprenticeship and became a journeyman copy engraver, working on projects for book and print
publishers. At the same year he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Arts School of Design, where he
began exhibiting his own works in 1780. Later in 1783 he privately published his Poetical Sketches, a
collection of poems that he had written over the previous 14 years.

Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher in August 1782. She was illiterate, so Blake taught her
to read, write draw, and color (his designs and prints). Catherine always supported him in everything he
did, right up to his death 45 years later. One of the most traumatic events of William Blakes life
occurred in 1787, when his beloved brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at age 24. At the moment of
Roberts death, Blake saw his spirit ascend through the ceiling. This influenced to his later poetry.

In the final years of his life, William Blake suffered from recurring bouts of an undiagnosed
disease that he called that sickness to which there is no name. He died on August 12, 1827, leaving
unfinished watercolor illustrations to Buyans Pligrims Progress and illuminated manuscript of the
Bibles Book of Genesis. In death, as in life, Blake received short shrift from observers, and obituaries
tended to underscore his personal idiosyncrasies at the expense of his artistic accomplishments. The
Literary Chronicle, for example, described him as one of those ingenious persons, whose eccentricities
were still more remarkable than their professional abilities.

B.

Analysis of Poems

In this analysis we present clear explanation about intrinsic and extrinsic elements of poems
created by William Blake. We chose three poems of William Blake namely A Dream, The Poison Tree
and Ah Sunflower. Analysis of intrinsic elements will be focused on speaker & tone, rhyme, diction,
structure, syntax, symbol, imagery, theme and figurative language. Whereas analysis of extrinsic
elements will focused on the author biography related to each poem and the setting of each poem.

1.

A Dream
Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.
Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:
'Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me.'
Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, 'What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?
'I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!'

a.

Intrinsic Elements
-

Speaker and Tone

The tone of this poem seems to give the very strong image of someone being lost, as a
reader we feel fairly sympathetic towards character especially as the start of the fourth stanza;
I dropped a tear and when the rhetoric question do they hear their father sigh?. Both of
these quotes also suggest that the traveller isnt away from home out of choice and thus
creates further sympathy
-

Diction
Blake prefers to use emmet than ant because emmet is an archaic or dialect word for
ant. The word emmet was most used by people in the old English age. Besides Blake uses
Emmet to make this poem has more diverse vocabulary.
The word glow-worm is the synonym of fireflies. In this poem Blake prefers to use glowworm because glow-worm refers to the female lampyrid or larva, whereas fireflies can be both
male and female. It can be attributed to the main character in this poetry : mother of emmet.
Wight : is a Middle English word, from Old English wiht, and used to describe a
creature or living sentient being. It is akin to Old High German wiht, meaning a creature or
thing. In its original usage the word wight described a living human being.
Hie : originated from middle English. In the past it means to strive. Now the word can
be translated as haste (as a verb) or in haste or hurriedly (as an adverb) and hurried (as an
adjective).
Thee : also an archaic or dialect word. It can be translated as you. Thee was common
used in the ancient poetry or other literary works.
-

Rhyme
All stanzas have the same rhyme. The structure of the rhyme is : the first and second lines
of stanza are same and so the third and the last lines are. So the rhyme is AABB for all stanzas.
As we can see below :
Once a dream did weave a shade (ed)
O'er my angel-guarded bed, (ed)
That an emmet lost its way (ay)
Where on grass methought I lay. (ay)
-

Structure
A Dream poem consists of five stanzas in which has four lines of each. So, we can conclude
that the structure is closed-structure.
-

Syntax
In the first stanza Blake uses simple past tense in the first line Once a dream did weave
a shade to show that this event happened in the past. In the second line O'er my angelguarded bed angel-guarded functions as adjective. It can be assumed that it means my bed is
guarded by angel. And the world methought can be assumed as my thought.

In the second stanza, the first two lines dont indicate as complete sentences.
Meanwhile the third line Over many a tangle spray, functions as the compliment. And the
last sentence Blake uses simple past tense to describe this situation happened in the past I
heard her say.
All lines in the third stanza are bounded by quotation marks to show that this stanza is
an expression or utterance. Therefore he uses simple present tense.
Blake combines simple past tense and simple present tense in the next stanza. He still
uses past tense to tell past situation and present tense is used with quotation marks.
The last stanza has the same tense with the third stanza because all the lines bounded
by quotation marks as a remark.
-

Symbol
Angel-guarded bed : symbolize a best or a safest place to dream and where the dream
can be so high and so unimpeded.
Emmet : symbolize an animal which always be in its company.
Glow-worm : symbolize as a very small light source.
Beetle : symbolize the noise

Figurative Language
Blake uses some figurative languages that can be listed below :
Metaphor : O'er my angel-guarded bed ; angel-guarded bed refers to the the safest
place to dream and where the dream can be so high and so unimpeded.
Personification : - I heard her say ; because her refers to the mother emmet.
- All lines in the third stanza; because the subject who cry, hear, look
and weep are the children of emmet.
- who replied, what wailing wight calls the watchman of the night? ;
the subject who does reply is the glow-worm.

Theme
The theme of this poem is about the sadness that can be experienced by anyone when
away from family. It is shown in this poem that a person who figured by an a mother emmet
who seems too much worrying about her family. As in the two first lines of the third stanza ;
Oh my children ! do they cry, do they hear their father sigh?
-

Imagery
Blake uses some imagery that can be analyzed as below :
Auditory : I heard her say (line 8), Do they hear their father sigh? (line 10)
Visual : Now they look abroad to see (line 11), But I saw a glow-worm near (line 14)

b.

Extrinsic Elements
- Authors biography (as the background of the poem)
William Blake, poet, painter and engraver, was one of the main conductors of British
Romanticism. Until the last decades of the 18th century Britain had liberally borrowed its
artists (Holbein, Kneller, Van Dyke) as it did its musicians (Bononcini, Handel, Haydn), from the
rest of Europe. In poetry only did the country express its heart and soul, preserve a unique

national heritage. It was the symbolic center of the nations spirit () (Curran 221) . So did this
art flourish in Blakes own spirit. One of his greatest works is Songs of Innocence and of
Experience, written between 1789 and 1794 (Poetseers). Blake reflects the innocence of
childhood in his Songs of Innocence in contrast with the later experience of maturity
collected in Songs of Experience. In the first book, the poet tells of a dream.
Blake in the poem tells us about a dream. He conveys a feeling of abstractism by describing
the dream as weaving a shade over his bed, which is guarded by angels, guardians of
innocence. A bed, including Blakes, is probably the place where imagination can expand at its
most. In this dream, while the narrator believes he is lying on some grass, he sees an ant who
has lost her way.
-

Setting
Blakes poems were printed by himself. This poem was written written between 1789 and
1794. It was one of 19 poems in Song of Innocence collection. It appeared in two phases. A few
first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he
bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of
Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.
c.

Summary
"A Dream" is a five-stanza poem made up of rhyming couplets. The first stanza sets the
scene of the poem as a dream the speaker had while napping. The second stanza begins to
describe the "Emmet," the ant, and her efforts to find her family. The speaker disappears in the
third stanza, leaving the reader alone with the story of the ant's efforts to rejoin her family. In
the fourth stanza, the speaker again interrupts with his weeping reaction to the ant's plight and
the happy realization that help is on the way. Here the mother ant represents the human soul,
longing for the peace and comfort only God can give. God intervenes in the form of the glowworm, who lights the path, and the beetle, who gives direction through his humming wings,
both of whom reunite the lost ant with her family.

2.

The Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

a.

Intrinsic Elements
-

Speaker and Tone

The tone of this poem isnt an ambiguous mood. It is clearly recognized that the tone or
mood which is shown in this poem is about the anger.
-

Diction
Wrath : Blake uses wrath to express an extremely anger . So it is used to strengthen the
word angry in the first line.
Apple : Apple appears in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit.
Blake is a poet who was always interested in mystical thing. It can be the strong reason why he
used apple in his poem. Besides apple was also popular in Christian tradition holds that Adam
and Eve ate an apple from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden.
-

Rhyme
The Poison Tree is presented with very organized lines as the first poem ; A Dream. As we
can see, the two first lines have the same sound in the end of each so the two last lines do. So
the rhyme of the poem is AABB.
-

Structure

This poem consists of four stanzas. Each stanza consists of four lines. So it can be concluded
that The Poison Tree is closed-structure poem.
-

Syntax
The poem is completely arranged with past tense sentences. It can be analyzed by
examining the verbs. In the first stanza there are was, told, did as verbs, those verbs are the
past forms of am, tell and does.
The past tense is also used in the second stanza. Watered and sunned are the past forms
of sun and water.
Grew, bore, beheld, and knew are the past forms of grow, bear, behold, and know. So
the four lines of the third stanza are the past tense forms.
Blake combines some tenses in the last stanza. And into my garden stole when the night
had veiled the pole can be recognized as a complex sentence. Whereas the third line in the
morning glad I see is the present tense and outstretched is the past form of verb in the last line.
-

Symbol
Apple : Christian tradition in the past believed that apple is a mystical or forbidden fruit.
In this poem Blake suggests that the tree which grows in anger bears an apple. Furthermore
apple also symbolized the sin.
Tree : symbolize as a
- Figurative Language
- Theme
The poem explores themes of indignation, revenge, and more generally the fallen state of
mankind. The poem suggests that acting on anger reduces the need for vengeance, which may
be connected to the British view of anger held following the start of the French Revolution. The
revolutionary forces were commonly connected to the expression of anger with opposing sides
arguing that the anger was either a motivating rationale or simply blinded an individual to
reason. Blake, like Coleridge, believed that anger needed to be expressed, but both were wary
of the type of emotion that, rather than guide, was able to seize control.
b.

Imagery

Extrinsic Elements
- Authors biography
The poem The Poison Tree suggests that acting on anger reduces the need for
vengeance, which may be connected to the British view of anger held following the start of the
French Revolution that was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France from 1789
to 1799 that profoundly affected French and modern history, marking the decline of powerful
monarchies and churches and the rise of democracy and nationalism. The revolutionary forces
were commonly connected to the expression of anger with opposing sides arguing that the
anger was either a motivating rationale or simply blinded an individual to reason. Blake, like
Coleridge, believed that anger needed to be expressed, but both were wary of the type of
emotion that, rather than guide, was able to seize control. Although Blake was not part of any
radical political organizations in England at the time of the French Revolution, his works suggest

a connection to revolutionary thought and the poem serves as his involvement in the debate
over the merits of the French Revolution.
Blake felt that there was a strong connection between the American and French
Revolutions and that these revolutions had a universal and historical impact. He later wrote a
poem The French Revolution which was intended as a poetic history of these current events
in Blake's life and was supposed to be an account of Blake's understanding of the French
Revolution described in seven books of poetry first published in 1791. Although Blake was not
part of any radical political organizations in England at the time of the French Revolution, his
works suggest a connection to revolutionary thought and the poem serves as his involvement
in the debate over the merits of the French Revolution.
-

Setting
"A Poison Tree" is a poem written by William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his Songs
of Experience collection. It describes the narrator's repressed feelings of anger towards an
individual emotion which eventually lead to murder.

c.

Summary
"The Poison Tree" consists of four sets of rhyming couplets. The obvious moral of this
poem is that hidden wrath becomes more dangerous behind the deceit that hides it from its
object. Possibly, the Friend mentioned in the first stanza is a friend simply because the
speaker respects him enough to voice his anger face to face, whereas the enemy may be a
potential friend who remains an enemy because the speaker keeps his wrath secret and
nurtures it. There is a touch of irony, however, in that the poem ends with the speakers
gladness over his foes death by poison. No final line refutes the secret nurturing of wrath, and
in fact, the poem may be read as a guide for taking vengeance upon ones enemies.
Some critics suggest that the apple symbolizes Blakes creative work which has a special
purpose to criticize the condition in that time : French Revolution that resulted industrial
revolution. And it was maybe because of this that Blake went to live in the countryside, far
from all the industrial changes and crowded cities. He was aware of the power of this industrial
revolution, but he did not let it change his way of life. He kept doing his jobs (etching, printing,
coloring) as he had always done, without being infected with this kind of dehumanization
that was spreading all over the country.

3.

Ah Sunflower
Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sunflower wishes to go!

a.

Intrinsic Elements
- Speaker and Tone
- Diction
- Rhyme
Unlike A Dream and The Poison Tree, Ah Sunflower doesnt use AABB rhyme. The first line
and the third line of each stanza have the same sound in the end, and the second and the
last lines of each stanza also have the same sound in the end. So the rhyme of this poem is
ABAB.
-

Structure
The poem consists of two stanzas with four lines of each. Like the other poems of William
Blake this poem also a closed-structure poem.
-

Syntax
Symbol
Figurative Language
Theme
The sunflower is tired of its existence, perhaps because of this restrictive world. The
sunflower symbolizes a man who is also a traveler. Thus, the sunflower seeks the world of
liberty, the golden world where every youth and virgin wish to go. Even the death cannot stop
them, they would continue to seek for the Golden world as haunted spirits! All three- The
sunflower, the young man and the virgin are seekers of the golden land.
b.

Extrinsic Elements
- Authors biography
-

c.

Imagery

Setting

Summary

III.

Conclusion

Analyzing intrinsic elements can be done to help us as the reader understand the meaning of
the poem. Moreover it can bring us to comprehend the messages of the poem. Analyzing intrinsic
elements encompasses some features. The first is structure and tone. It is the mood which is stated by
the poet in the poems. The second is diction. Analyzing diction concerns on why the poet chose two
words. The third is rhyme. Rhyme is one of the poems feature which makes the poem becomes more
beautiful and more artistic. The next is structure. There poems that have closed-structure while the
others have opened-structure. Syntax is the next point to be analyzed. It is about the structure of the
sentences in the poem. As we know that poems always present symbols to make it more interesting, so
symbol is the next point to be analyzed. The special feature of the poem is that it has figurative
language. Here the reader has to pay more attention because it might be hard to understand its
meaning. Every poem has different theme. The theme can be analyzed by understanding the whole
content of the poem. The last point is imagery which has some types such as visual, auditory, olfactory,
tactile, organic, and kinesthetic and gustatory.

REFERENCES

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

http://www.gradesaver.com/songs-of-innocence-and-of-experience/study-guide/section17/
http://mural.uv.es/emdoba/dreamblake.html
http://www.gradesaver.com/songs-of-innocence-and-of-experience/study-guide/section17/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wight
http://williamblakereloaded.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/a-students-analysis-of-a-dream-andlondon/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-poison-tree/
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/622/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_French_Revolution_(poem)