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Pieces-mended

  • Member since April 24, 2006.

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  • on A Dream by William Blake, on April 24, 2006

    Meh.

    I'm not exactly a big fan of this man because i find it so hard to figure out his poetry. I'm normally pretty good at analysing stuff but sheesh!

    I'm finding it pretty hard finding annotations to this poem so here's what i've got so far incase anyone else needs info on it:

    * From the start of the poem the readership are told that the text is based on a dream, escaping from reality and into the dream world.

    * The characters in the poem are all insects which parallels with the christian teaching of caring for even the least of God's creatures. The Emmet of corse, is an ant, it's capitalised to emphasise it's importance etc.

    * The glow-worm is symbolic of the guiding light/star of nazareth...whatever you fancy calling it. And i'm assuming that "the watchman of the night" is God himself.

    * The whole poem is surrounded by an atmosphere of loss, especially of children, as if they've lost their place in the interconnected universe. Loss of children could also signify the changes that come into play from the transition from innocence to experience.

    I basically got pretty much all of that from York Notes and i fully recommend that you buy this guide if you're studying this man's poetry at school. Hope this is helpful to someone!