William Blake was born on November 28, 1757 in London, the third of five children. Blake worked in his fathers shop until he discovered his drawing talent. After he revealed his talent, he then started to write. He put his new found drawing talent to use after he wrote the two books Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. He did this by drawing on copper plates, which turned into the front covers to both of the books Blake wrote. Blake's most popular poems stem from the Songs of Innocence which he published in 1789. This books straight-forward fashion and simple lyrics were at first interpreted as children's poetry by some readers. Only five years later, Blake published the Songs of Experience, which he intended to be read together with the Songs of Innocence. The opposition can be noticed in that of the Songs of Innocence, such as "The Lamb," with the scenes of meadows, valleys and a more happier diction. The lamb's counterpart from the Songs of Experience, "The Tyger" involves scenes of harsh jungle and a fearless creature stalking its" prey, with a much depressing diction. .
The poem "The Lamb" is a rather simply written poem. Stemming from the Songs of Innocence it was early on read to children . The whole first stanza of the poem asks questions about the Lambs existence and creation. "Little Lamb who made thee?" (line 1) This poem is also written in a unsophisticated rhyme pattern which seems to add the simplistic nature and childish tone of the poem. The reader gets a real feeling for the Innocence that the Lamb portrays. The animal itself, Lamb, it seen to be a very calm and .
harmless creature. The lamb, with "wooly bright" clothing (6), plays in the pastoral settings of streams, (4) meads, (4) or meadows and vales, (8) or valleys. Concurring that streams and pastures are images commonly seen in the Bible, which is what I think Blake is referring to in much of not only this poem, but throughout his works.
Before we jump into the 'The Tyger' and 'The Lamb,' let's discuss the larger bodies of work the poems belong to. ... Blake's "The Tyger" is the contrast poem to "The Lamb". "The Tyger" is the experience of the loss of innocence that "The Lamb" seems to personify. ... "Tyger! Tyger! ...
The Tyger signifies a duel purpose in this poem. ... The Tyger may very well be the image of God that man has twisted and conformed to fit into the experienced world society has become, and by this event, He is no longer one with man as He was in the Lamb. ... The Tyger(Songs of Experience) 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. ... Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry! The Lam...
Blake discusses that the creator of the lamb also calls Himself a Lamb. ... The poem begins with the opening hurdle of metaphor, "Tyger Tyger, burning bright-. ... "The Lamb- and "The Tyger- are the two contrary poems, which when first read, form an instant link in the reader's mind. ... The lamb is an emblem of innocence, corresponding to the tyger as the emblem of experience. The two contrary states of the human soul expressed in the subtitle of Songs of Innocence and Experience are nicely embodied in the ideas of these two animals - the lamb and the tyger. ...
The lamb emphasises a "blind faith", where the Tyger represents a skeptical doubt. ... In "The Tyger" this imagery is completely discarded, the meek and mild lamb, is replaced with a raging force of danger and chaos. ... But what is more striking is the direct changes from "The Lamb" to "The Tyger". ... The utopia of Jerusalem is lost from "The Lamb" to "The Tyger" and converted into a much grimmer imagery, suggesting that experience like the imagery in the Tyger is both dangerous and destructive. ... And this was often the turning point from innocence to experience, or from "The Lamb", to...
"The Lamb" and "The Tyger" are two animals created by and immortal being and both of the, have to coexist with one another on this planet. ... In the poem "The Lamb" the main method used throughout the poem is the use of answers and questions directed and the lamb. ... In the poem "The Tyger" the same method of answers and questions are used but this time they are toward the Tyger. ... The connection I drew between the two poems is that they talk about the creation of the beasts the Lamb and the Tyger. ... The Lamb is soft, pretty, and a prey while the Tyger is fearful, dreadful, and a pr...
Tyger! ... The writing style makes it seem the Lamb grew up and became the Tyger. Let us take a look at the two books of poems that The Lamb and The Tyger came from. ... I believe that the Tyger is the Lamb experienced and all grown up. ... (Norton, 54) The final line of The Tyger would then not the first question of the poem repeated, but a question asking who warped the gentle lamb into the form that of a freighting Tyger. ...
Interpretation: "The Tyger" This poem is from Songs of Experience, so the generally accepted symbolism of it is that the Tyger represents experience and the Lamb innocence. However, other interpretations state that the Tyger represents the sensual and the Lamb the sensuous, another that the Tyger represents, "the Body," and the Lamb, "the Soul." Another interpretation goes so far, as to say, that the Tyger represents the physical world, and the Lamb the spiritual. ... The Tyger is beautiful, but at the same time fierce and terrible, with "fearful symmetry." ... Blake wonders what kind of c...
"THE LAMB" and "THE TYGER" In both poems, the speaker asks them by their origins. In The Lamb we get an answer, but it does not occur in The tyger, although this last poem is longer we do not have an explicit answer. We have in both poems the adjective "bright" in their description but expresses different things: in The Lamb, the animal is described as "wooly bright", which means tenderness; in the tyger is "burning bright", which is a rough definition. In The Lamb the author is identified as a child. ... In The Tyger the predominant feeling is surprise, admiration, fear (awe). ...
The two poems, "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," both by William Blake, can be analyzed and applied in many different ways. ... Later in the poem, Blake compares the lamb with Jesus Christ, The son of the Father whom himself created the lamb, and all that is beautiful and innocent. ... "The Tyger", in strong contrast to "The Lamb," is mysterious and malevolent, offering hints of destruction and doom. The opening lines of the poem "Tyger, Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night," shows early on in the poem that this "tiger" is capable of destroying the forests, which themselves are a bea...