COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TYGER AND THE LAMB

‘THE TYGER’ AND ‘THE LAMB’

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

I. INTRODUCTION

William Blake is one of the greatest poets of the Romantic Age. He lived in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution so it is possible to see the effects of the Revolution in his poems. Since Blake had extremely religious parents, the poems he had written could be related to the Bible. Blake compiled his poems which he himself painted in the ‘Songs of Innocence’ and later in the ‘Songs of Experience’. Because these two poetry books were complements of each other, they dealt with the same subject from different points of view. The poems in the ‘Songs of Innocence’ are about the redemptive God of the New Testament, like Jesus. The poems in the ‘Songs of Experience’ are about God who brought all the evil and suffering to the world’. These two books were later joined in one book called the ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’. At the beginning of the book Blake pointed out that he wanted to show his view of contrary states of the soul. In this research paper, I am going to try to compare the two poems ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ taken from the very famous books of poems the ‘Songs of Innocence’ and ‘Songs of Experience’ written by the 18th century poet William Blake. (http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/2836.php)

II. BODY

A. Analysis of the Poem “The Lamb”

1. Summary: The poem ‘The Lamb’ is taken from the ‘Songs of Innocence’. Here it is understood that the Lamb is symbol of the world. In fact, the Lamb represents three things: It represents both the purity of nature and the child. Also the Lamb which represents the child also stands for Jesus Christ. This is because the Christians call Jesus Christ by ‘The lamb of God’. In the poem, the child asks ‘Little Lamb, who made thee?’ and answers himself. ‘God has created the Lamb’. (Mina Urgan, İngiliz Edebiyatı Tarihi)

2. Form: The poem ‘The Lamb’ has two stanzas with five rhymed couplets. It is like a song because of the repetition in the first and last couplet of each stanza. This poem is very well-structured because in the first verse it has the questions and in the second verse it has the answers. Because of the simple vocabulary Blake used in this poem, it may look like a children’s poem. Moreover, Blake uses the alliteration ‘Little Lamb’ which makes the poem look softer. This is another reason why people might think this is a poem written for ...

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3. Commentary: As Blake was a religious person, there is biblical discourse in the poem ‘The Lamb’. For readers this is inspiring and gives readers a sense of hope. The biblical discourse in the poem can be seen in the following verse:

‘He is meek, and he is mild ’.

This quotation is taken from the New Testament in which God was peaceful and forgiving.

This poem does not explain why there is evil or suffering in the world. However, as written before, it has the positive aspects of traditional Christian belief. ()

B. Analysis of the Poem

1. Summary: Another poem written by William Blake is ‘The Tyger’ from the ‘Songs of Experience’. It is the contrasting poem to ‘The Lamb’‘. In the poem ‘The Tyger’ God is described as a blacksmith. He is strong, dark and evil. This can be understood from the following verse:

‘What the hammer? What the chain? ’

()

2. Form: The poem ‘The Tyger’ has six quatrains in rhymed couplets. It has a regular and rhythmic meter. All the questions asked in the poem has one central idea. (www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/blake.htm)

3. Commentary: Blake believes that nature should contain a reflection of its creator. The Tyger is beautiful but terrifying in terms of violence. What kind of God would and could create such a horrible animal? What does it mean to live in a world where a creature has both beauty and horror? Who could and would create such a creature as the tiger? ()

The symbol of the world is the tiger and it represents power. When Blake wrote this poem, there were the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution. They were both negative because many people were killed by the guillotine in the French Revolution and a lot of people were forced to work in bad work conditions during the Industrial Revolution. ()

Although the tiger stands for destructive violence, it is also beautiful. The combination of its qualities sum up the existence of good and bad, beauty and savagery, both in ourselves and in the world God made.

‘The Tyger’ is described like a ‘sun burning bright’. This imaginary reminds the reader of the image of the hell and that the creator of the tiger can be Devil. There is another link to the French Revolution because the Revolutionaries are known as ‘Tygers’. The violent forces of the French Revolution might be expressed as the energy of the tiger.

(http://www.ruthpadel.com/pages/Tigers_in_Western.htm)

C. Comparison of the two poems “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”

In ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ Blake discussed issues about creation and religion. ‘The Lamb’ is the symbol of innocence, while ‘The Tyger’ is the symbol of evil.

These two poems also share the theme of creation and divine intervention. In both poems there are questions about how ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ were created. In ‘The Lamb’, the lamb was created by God, whereas in ‘The Tyger’ Blake is not very sure where the tiger was created by the same god. The contrast with “The Lamb” is very clear. It can be seen in the following stanzas of ‘The Lamb’;

‘Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?’

Here, the answer is God. In ‘The Tyger’, the poet asks,

‘Did he who made the lamb make thee?’

Here; the answer is ‘Yes, God made the tiger, too.

The last question emphasizes “the difference between the innocent youth and experienced maturity of the poet.” (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger)

Both poems use simple rhymes and regular meter. ‘The Tyger’ is written in quatrains and ‘The Lamb’ in longer verses.

Although there are innocent things in the world, those who are experienced with life know that there are frightening things also. Here, the symmetry might be that of ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’, innocence and experience.

III. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the book the ‘Songs of Experience’ was written as a response to the ‘Songs of Innocence’. Blake wrote these two sets of poems to show the contrary states of the human soul, the existence of the good and the evil in ourselves. He paired poems in these two books by giving them the same title. ‘The Lamb’ is the corresponding poem to “The Tyger”. “The Lamb” is a look at childish innocence and “The Tyger” refers to the innocent child who is growing up. These poems complement each other and they produce a better effect than each of them would independently. “Both poems present views of the world filtered through the eyes and mind of a child”. (Literature, The English Tradition, P.606) In other words, these two poems summarizes Blake’s whole point: the relationship of knowledge – including the knowledge of evil – to lamblike innocence.