I've never really paid much attention to poetry (who does), but I've always had a strange affinity for William Blake. As an eccentric Romantic, his work is vivid with mythological imagery that speaks to mankind's unique psychological conflicts. In particular, his "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience" are two volumes of allegorical poetry that represent the opposing notions of the ideal and the real world. Some poems (like "The Lamb") in Innocence have antithetical poems (like "The Tyger") in Experience.I suppose this appeals to me because, like Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde, the work explores the duality of man and our internal struggle with good and evil. For our purposes here, I find these inquiries exceptionally relevant as they relate to the dichotomy between public and private personas (whether mediated by a television screen, the lens of camera, or your skin). The tale of Tiger Woods is a sadly perfect example of this: the epic journey from his immaculate conception to an inevitable fall from grace. James Suroweicki's latest New Yorker article is a good encapsulation of his peculiar case. Like Blake's innocent Lamb, Woods has been revealed a depraved (and quite human) Tyger. - Bye, bye Accenture.
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