Compare and contrast the ways in which the poets

present doubt:

Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. In the poems: 'The Tyger' and 'Half-
Past Two', William Blake and U.A. Fanthorpe both portray doubt through structure and
literary devices. In 'The Tyger' Blake expresses that he is not convinced of his faith and
whether god is truly good if he created a wild and dangerous animal. The poem 'Half-Past
Two' regards a young boy who doesn't understand numerical time and Fanthorpe describes
him as stuck but also free from reality. Both the writers contradict themselves when they
use juxtaposition, and metaphors. However they also contrast through: alliteration,
anaphora and lexical field.
 
In 'The Tyger', Blake shows confusion as he tries to understand gods creation of the tiger.
This is depicted in the quote: 'Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night'. The
use of juxtaposition when he writes 'bright' and 'night' suggests a lack of uncertainty. When
he writes 'bright', he could be suggesting the goodness of god however, the 'night' is dark so
this contradicts this and proves he is questioning god and his faith. Uncertainty can also be
seen in 'Half-Past Two' as the author creates the feeling that time for the boy is suspended.
Fanthorpe shows this when he writes about, 'the silent noise his hangnail made' in stanza
eight. The language technique used is oxymoron when the boy describes 'silent noise'. This
gives the impression that the boy can't recognise what's real anymore and is going against
his belief because the room is so quiet. Ultimately, confusion is displayed in both poems;
Blake is doubting something as well as the narrator in half past two even if what they
represent and what they are doubting is dissimilar.
 
Blake is also sceptical towards the tiger and figuratively describes it as evil because he can't
understand the reason for it's creation when god made things to be pure. This is
demonstrated when he asks ‘did he smile his work to see? did he who made the Lamb make
thee?’. The use of anaphora highlights the conflict Blake feels towards the tiger. He sees god
as all seeing and yet he has created something that is capable of sin. How could he create
something like that when he can also create ‘the lamb’? However in half past two there are
themes of innocence as the boy hasn’t yet figured out time but he doesn’t believe it to be
bad he just wants to comprehend it. The difference with half past two is that innocence is
not dangerous and does not sit alongside danger. This can be seen particularly when
Fanthorpe describes the clock face's ‘little eyes and two long legs for walking’. The use of
personification depicts these features as human which characterises as friendly in its
description. The idea of the long legs carrying time does not in any way feel worrying. It is as
though the clock is a kind observer. Therefore it is clear that Blake and Fanthorpe wanted to
have different impacts on the reader by talking about innocence. Blake sees the tiger as
portentous whereas the boys innocence is gentle and harmless
 
Whilst the structure of both poems progress and evolve, the authors use contrasting styles
to convey their distinctive perspective. Blake uses a set of six stanzas and regular rhyming
couplets which creates a rhetorical tone. In 'The Tyger' Blake shows this in the fourth stanza:
‘What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain?’. The rhyming of ‘chain
and ‘brain’ creates the idea of questioning where the repetition of the sounds shows a
restless mind by producing an echo of his thoughts. Blake also moves between natural and
industrial themes, this is shown through lexical field. The words ‘hammer’, ‘chain’ and
‘furnace’ all relate the creation of life to the human creation of sinister iron weapons. This is
in contrast to Fanthorpe who uses a less formal and regular structure with no symmetry or
rhyming throughout. In half past two it is as if time is running away through the use of
enjambment where it rolls from one sentence to the next. Such as when Fanthorpe writes
‘so he waited, beyond once upon a, out of reach of all the timeworks’. This gives the
impression of time as fluid and by making his poem unstructured Fanthorpe portrays that
these are the thoughts of a child. In the two poems, the authors choose to impart different
things. Unlike Fanthorpe's relaxed, childlike writing Blake’s gives the impression of
something more formal such as God and the themes of good and evil.
 
In conclusion, both poets seek to answer fundamental questions which lead to doubt.
Fanthorpe deals with the nature of childhood personified through a boy struggling to
understand time. Blake is concerned with the question of sin and whether it is created by
god or man. While they deal with different themes they both use similar devices but with
opposing effects. Fanthorpe uses the devices to create a sense of timelessness while Blake
provides greater formality in keeping with a fundamental question about god. So doubt
features in both poems as the poets seek to answer their question but find themselves
doubting their true understanding.