Blake uses very different imagery in both poems, and shows his thoughts of the two different animals as symbols of good and evil and his approval and disapproval for one and the other. He shows the simple and pleasant pastoral surroundings, where the lamb is ‘o’er the mead’ ‘by the stream’ and ‘ making all the vales rejoice’, but shows his hatred for the almost industrial birthplace of the tiger, being made with ‘chains’ and in a ‘furnace’. In this hellish atmosphere, Blake tries to describe the power of evil creating it. He asks ‘what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry’ and describes ‘the hammer’ and ‘the chain’ that could have created it. These are very cold, sharp, cruel and almost terrifying tools, unlike something one would expect ‘God’ to use to create His perfect beings. Blake describes the tiger as a creation of evil from the pits of a type of hell, surrounded by factories and pollution, ‘in the furnace was thy brain?’ but shows the lamb as a thing that came from a place of peace and innocence, in perfect rural settings, like an innocent child, having ‘such a tender voice’, and having ‘clothing of delight’.
In ‘The Tiger’ Blake tries to show a distressing atmosphere, almost like a nightmare, and in great detail describes his feelings as being full of struggle, ‘and when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand and what dread feet?’. In disbelief here, he shows how he could not believe that a God who supposedly was meant to bring peace into our world would create such a monster like the tiger. This differs however to the childlike language and comforting atmosphere in ‘the lamb’, where Blake describes the lamb’s ‘softest clothing, woolly, bright’ simply, and convincing not only himself but the reader in his confidence that a kind and gentle God created it. Unlike in ‘The Tiger’, Blake shows his faith in God in ‘The Lamb’ and shows his confidence in God’s good will. He describes the lamb and its surroundings with beauty and joy by saying ‘making all the vales rejoice’, and unlike in ‘The Tiger’ answers his question about God, with great pride and confidence, saying ‘I’ll tell thee’, showing his confidence in the fact that God created the lamb. He describes God as a calm and gentle creator, who ‘is meek and mild’. In The Tiger he does not show these thoughts but instead describes the creator as a horrifying creature, who would ‘dare frame thy fearful symmetry’.
‘The Tiger’ is almost like a protest against the beliefs of the time. In the time of writing this, people views on God were very simple. These were that he was the sole creator of Earth and was kind and all-powerful. However, Blake seems to make a protest by asking questions that people would not think of, for instance questioning if God is in fact all powerful and kind. He represents this in the poems as I have said. On the one hand he is showing his pride in the creation of ‘The Lamb’ and his confidence in God, but on the other hand he is questioning this confidence in ‘The Tiger’ in which Blake shows acceptance but confusion over the meaning of creation and dares to raise questions about issues people of his time would not ask: Is there actually a God? He asks this by saying ‘What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ showing his feelings of disgust towards what the tiger stands for (a cruel side of God), and then at the end of the poem ‘what immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry? Blake distinguished his thoughts on the difference between what person had the power to create such a creature like the tiger to what sort of God would even think of creating such a monster. Clearly Blake here came to the conclusion that he did not understand why the majority thought God to be the stereotypical perfect creator of the world in the time of his life. Blake did not understand why the God who sacrificed his life for peace on earth would create such a terrifying and destructive creature like the tiger that would be a danger to mankind. However in ‘the lamb’ the form of Blake’s poem is very different. He used his questions and answers in the form of a nursery rhyme wanting the reader to understand his perception of the lamb as a innocent childlike creature, for instance ‘Little lamb, who made thee?’ ‘Little lamb, I’ll tell thee’, and tries to show that he would have to tell it about its creator in an infantile style so that it could understand him. Blake describes the ‘little lamb’ in an innocent and soft way repeating his questions like ‘Does thou know who made thee?’ again showing it’s innocence by trying to make sure that the ‘lamb’ understands his questions. The lamb was taken from ‘Songs of Innocence’, therefore adding to my thoughts of his presentation of the poem as a nursery rhyme.
God is seen as good and humble in ‘The Lamb’ and described as being ‘meek’ showing that even with so much power He is still kind and gentle. He is seen as the saviour and as a loving creator who ‘blesses’ the lamb. Blake shows tremendous confidence in God, and shows this with such an innocent creature like the lamb. In ‘The Tiger’, he shows a different point of view though about God. Blake asks himself if God is really all good, and on asking ‘Did he smile at his work?’ he showed his disgust and sadness over the realization that God was meant to be pleased with all of his creation and therefore would also have to be pleased with the ‘evil’ that he had created, like ‘the tiger’. As well as confusing himself Blake also confuses the reader, by trying to ask questions that no one can answer. Blake tries to ask if God has two opposing motives or if not then he would be too complex for humans to understand.
His clear understanding of our Creator in ‘The Lamb’ is met by the realization of the possible truths about Him in ‘The Tiger’. Blake has a definite understanding of creation in the lamb, ‘I’ll tell thee’, but then from ‘Songs of experience’, shows in the tiger that maybe God is not perfect and good, as he would not allow evil, in the form of the tiger to exist. The innocence and simple truth about the creator, God, in the lamb, is borne out by these thoughts and feelings, and because of this Blake and we are left with the unanswered questions of not only how were we created, but why would the creator create evil as well as good?
