William Blake, in his two poems, "The Lamb" and "The Tyger", from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, respectively, shows what Blake referred to as "the two contrary states of the human soul." In "The lamb", Blake creates what is the epitome of innocence for him, a gentle and caring creature, surrounded by pastoral imagery. In "The Tyger" however, the imagery changes, the focus is on the blazing fire, burning out of a dark sky, and the elusive, yet powerfully exhilarating Tyger. The change from innocence to experience is well documented, and serves to comment on the change that we as humans seem to endure. The lamb emphasises a "blind faith", where the Tyger represents a skeptical doubt. Through this the comment lies chiefly on advances in industry and science, further questioning the view that scientific evidence is seen as more important than religious faith. Blake however, seems not to totally condemn "The Tyger". True he does refer to it in a negative light, but also, through his poem, he suggests that "Innocence is the contrary of experience and not its negation." He suggests that for innocence to exist there must on some level be experience. Although two very different forces, they do not oppose each other, and in one sense are both necessary for human existence.
Blake believed people were not intrinsically good nor bad, but as adults they grow away from the innocence embodied by childhood. He believed that joy and spontaneity were ruined with this growth, and social rules and institutions were the cause of this. The reader notices Blake's powerful belief in the purity of the child, in his songs of innocence. It is in these poems that faith and beauty prevail. There is an emphasise on nature and the topics emphasise belief, as opposed to scientific doubt. This is shown in "The lamb" by the surety of the speaker, that it was God who created the lamb. He refers to God as the one who: .
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" 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. ...
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 Tyger" is a rather different poem than "The Lamb" with images of "fire," (6) "hammer," (13) "furnaces," (14) and "spears" (17). ... Like "The Lamb," Blake opens "The Tyger" with a question in stanza one, "What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" ... In "The Tyger" the imagery is more infernal than heavenly. ... Blake's vision of creative force in the universe made a balance of inn...
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...
