| | Kayla,
Obviously the crux of this poem is in this line:
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
I can imagine at least 5 exciting classes or more being taught on this line alone. The different life forces that are manifest is one. You can also take this all the way down to axiomatic concepts and a discussion of God and the supernatural, on up to a discussion of what exactly life is, and a discussion of good and evil, with life being the standard. The wealth of further examples drawn from life and personal experience - and asking for such examples from the students - makes for a great deal of interest.
This as a wonderful poem.
I would start by paraphrasing the whole thing in modern English, just to make it intelligible (no, I won't do that for you - that's your job - and it could even be done in class out loud, line by line, as a discussion). Then I would elaborate on the context of fear in the first four lines, reading them dramatically, as an emotional hook. After a whole lot of in-depth discussion, I would go back to that dramatic reading, doing it again, pointing out how that meaning and even the fear has changed by a broader understanding - and how it finally leads to a profound feeling of wonder at the whole shebang of being alive and existing as the poem progresses.
You could also discuss a little about the poetic use of rhythm and rhyme to create a sort of hypnotic effect - even equating it to the pulsing of the universe and the beating of hearts - in both tigers and lambs - as a further element Blake used to evoke emotions in readers - to get them to both feel and know on a different level what he was talking about.
Did that help any?
Michael
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