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Difficulty: MediumFigurative Language Devices

Read the following lines from William Blake's poem "The Tyger" (1794) carefully:

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In the third line of the excerpt, the synecdoche "hand or eye" functions primarily to do which of the following?

  1. A
    isolate the creator's power to the physical acts of seeing and touching, demonstrating a literal limitation of the supernatural entity
  2. B
    label the mechanical parts of the tiger's body, highlighting the creature's physical strength and sensory organs
  3. focus attention on the specific capacities of vision and craftsmanship, highlighting the deliberate artistry required to fashion the tigerAnswer
  4. D
    reveal William Blake’s personal anxiety about the lack of moral guidance in the natural world during the Industrial Revolution
  5. E
    initiate a transition from a tone of terror to one of calm, rational explanation of the natural order

Answer

The synecdoche functions to focus attention on the specific capacities of vision and craftsmanship, highlighting the deliberate artistry required to fashion the tiger.
The correct option explains that the synecdoche 'hand or eye' represents the creator by highlighting the specific tools of vision (the eye) and physical making (the hand). This device focuses the reader's attention on the deliberate craftsmanship and artistic vision required to form the tiger, magnifying the sense of awe surrounding its creation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the synecdoche in the excerpt.
The phrase 'hand or eye' represents the creator's capacities of design and physical execution through these specific body parts.
Understanding the literal parts used in the synecdoche helps clarify their symbolic weight.
2
Determine the referent of the synecdoche.
The 'hand' represents craftsmanship and creation, while the 'eye' represents vision and planning. Together, they represent the divine creator.
Correctly identifying who or what the parts represent prevents misinterpreting them as the tiger's own features.
3
Analyze how this representation builds meaning in the passage.
By emphasizing the specific tools of vision and construction rather than just naming the creator, Blake highlights the immense design and artistry required to construct a creature of 'fearful symmetry.'
This links the figurative device directly to the thematic focus on creation and design.

Key Concept

Figurative Language Devices
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Figurative Language Devices

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