Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 25, 2023

Garfield can relate to Hobbes.

Before anyone criticizes Calvin for misinterpreting Blake’s poem, it’s still pretty impressive for a 6 year-old.

Um… Blake who, Calvin?

It’s actually Tyger, as Blake used the Old English spelling.

“Tiger, tiger, burning bright

What has caused you to ignite?" – Richard Armour

Maybe he read todays Heathcliff, with the fire breathing chihuahua.

A wise choice, Hobbs.

What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry.

Tiger! Tiger! I wonder by that striped view

Are those grill marks from the BBQ?

I wonder whether Calvin has read The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. If he has, he probably feels Kipling was unfair to tigers. He may have watched the 1967 cartoon which I first watched as a nine-year-old around Easter 1976. That cartoon first came out when I was just a few months old. He may also have watched the 1992 live-action version in which John Cleese had a supporting role and Shere Khan actually got to eat a human. He didn’t eat Mowgli, of course.

Hobbes has the perfect get-away…..zzzzzzzzz

“Flammable Felines”…sounds like an interesting name for a sports team!

Spelt “tyger” apparently.

For anyone interested in the actual poem:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43687/the-tyger

I missWatterson’s ability to ‘tap in’ to the mind of a child and the harried life of the parents. Wouldn’t mind seeing some new stuff.

Oh, so you like poetry, huh?

The boy stood on the burning deck

His feet were covered with blisters

He started to cough

His pants fell off

And now he wears his sister’s

I got another about Nantucket, wanna hear it?

Judges 15

Samson caught 300 foxes, tied them to torches, and turned them loose on the Philistines. Maybe Blake was reading the Bible and came up with his story. Maybe not.

Just pounce, Hobbes…

William Blake – British poet

William Blake, I guess. Wow, Calvin DOES pay some attention in school…

It’s really for the best that Bill Watterson retired this comic when he did. He seemed to like the characters less and less as the years passed, and that was reflected in the strip. It went from “best friends forever, buddy” to this.

I feel fulfilled. I’ve had my culture this morn.

Blake Edwards wrote poems about pink panthers

Calvin should look into the thing about the path of excess. Then there’s “The Poison Tree.” Blake is perhaps the only poet ever to rhyme tears and fears successfully.

Sleeping through the day is the hallmark of a famous poet. :)

Tyger, Calvin. It’s tyger.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=95539f23207e7b5bJmltdHM9MTY3OTcwMjQwMCZpZ3VpZD0yNWEyYjc2MS04NDVhLTZlNmMtMzA2Yi1iYWJhODU4YTZmNDMmaW5zaWQ9NTE5Nw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=25a2b761-845a-6e6c-306b-baba858a6f43&psq=the+tyger+paraphrase&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGl0Y2hhcnRzLmNvbS9wb2V0cnkvd2lsbGlhbS1ibGFrZS90aGUtdHlnZXI&ntb=1

I remember a Phoebe And Her Unicorn Sunday strip in which Phoebe was reading the poem “My candle burns at both ends,” then Marigold Heavenly Nostrils tried to outdo the candle by making her horn and her tail sparkle. Phoebe replied, “I can’t believe you’re jealous of a candle!”

I commented that it reminded me of my favourite comic strip and then quoted the lines that Calvin quotes here.

Yes, you avoid a lot of flame-bouyancy.

Blake?

I always saw that line as a reference to the quality of a feline’s eyes in the dark which seem to glow even in very low light situations. They have a reflective layer behind the rods and cones that sense light, allowing the photons a second pass past the sensors and thus increase their night vision. Or its just part of Blake’s own internal visions. It is unlikely that Blake himself had ever seen a tiger in real life.

The Tyger

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

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

In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes?On what wings dare he aspire?What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,Could twist the sinews of thy heart?And when thy heart began to beat.What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,In what furnace was thy brain?What the anvil? what dread grasp.Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears And water’d heaven with their tears:Did he smile his work to see?Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

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

Blake, William. “The Tyger.” ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Songs of Experience. ​​​​​​​Facsimile reproduction of the 1794 illuminated manuscript, published by The William Blake Trust and the Tate Gallery, 2009, in ​​​​​​​William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books.

Yep, the Tyger was on fire or was it a kathoga? See “Relic” (1996) to find out.

Wonder if I’d still be allergic to a charred cat.