Now I am going to compare ‘The Tiger’ to ‘The Lamb’ also by William Blake. In this poem again the poet is talking directly to the animal involved, in this case the Tiger and asking questions such as; “On what wings dare he aspire?” Although in ‘The Lamb’ the author answers the questions whereas in ‘The Tiger’ he does not. This creates an aura of mystery because we do not know anything about the tiger. Another thing that is different from ‘The Lamb’ is the sophistication of the language and vocabulary used. In ‘The Lamb’ the writer asks ‘Dost thou know who made thee?’ In ‘The Tiger’ he says ‘What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ These mean basically the same, but ‘The Tiger’ contains more complex language. This is because Blake uses more simplicity in ‘The Lamb’ as it is from a collection of ‘Innocence’ poems, on the other hand the poem ‘The Tiger’ is from the collection of ‘Experience’ poems. Just like in ‘The Lamb’, Blake also talks and describes the characteristics of ‘The Tiger’. For example he talks about the colour of the Tigers fur, ‘burning bright’ whereas in contrast to ‘The Lamb’ where he describes the Lambs coat as white. The colour white projects innocence and ‘burning bright’ uses hard sounds, linking to the character of the Tiger, fierce and hard. Blake goes on to build up a picture of the beast by saying ‘Burnt the fear of thine eyes.’ This makes it sound like the Tiger has piercing, angry eyes. He continues to do so into verse three where he says ‘twist the sinews of thy heart.’ This makes me think of evil as the word ‘twist’ makes me think of evil, sick and twisted, also as it involves the heart. He then uses the word ‘dread’ repeatedly, exaggerating the ferociousness of the animal.
As does Blake describe the habitat in ‘The Lamb’ he also does so in ‘The Tiger’. He says ‘In the forests of the night’. Unlike in ‘The Lamb’ where the habitat is peaceful and blissful this is the complete opposite. ‘The forests’ are associated with darkness and a frightening place to be. Also bad things happen at night. ‘The forests of the night’. These two scenarios, when together create a terrifying scene and place to be.
The rhythm of this poem is full of power, just like the tiger. The poet has again in this poem matched the rhythm of the poem to the character of the animal. The rhythm could represent the heartbeat of the Tiger or the stop of his feet running through the dark forest after prey such as a ‘Little Lamb.’ Finally, the poet uses rhyming couplets again but this time not in same effect, it does not sound childish. The first pair of rhyming couplets are ‘bright’ and ‘night’. These words appear to be opposites. Maybe Blake is trying to show opposites again in pairs like he has in writing his poems.
Although the poem is about a Lamb and a Tiger, I believe that these poems are not just about animals, they put forth Blake’s religious beliefs. In ‘The Lamb’ Blake asks “little lamb who made thee?” William Blake is implying that God made the lamb, showing his belief in creation and not evolution. He also shows his belief in god by the word’s “softest clothing, woolly and bright?”, he believes God only allows the best for his creations. He also makes references to Jesus throughout the poem, “he calls himself by thy name”. This shows Jesus, as he was God’s ultimate sacrifice, linked with the Lamb, as Lambs’ were often used to sacrifice for the sins of humans.
However when you read ‘The Tiger’, Blake portrays a different type of God. This is one of anger and relentlessness and is extremely different to that in ‘The Lamb’. He talks about ‘distant deeps’, representing hell and describes how ‘the Tiger’ is a creature from hell. “In what furnace was thy brain?” Blake is questioning his god because of the very different creature he has created from ‘The Lamb’. If this God he in which believes is so loving, why had he created such a fearsome and dangerous creature? He also speaks of the hell created by God, why had this man, who made such a beautiful and loving place in “The Lamb”, created such a evil and horrid place, Hell. The poem ‘The Lamb’ is from ‘Songs of Innocence’ and ‘The Tiger’ is from ‘Songs of Experience’. Maybe this is because Blake is trying to insinuate that as children, we are like a lamb, naive and needing to find things out for ourselves by questioning life, in addition I think Blake is attempting to show his views on the industrial revolution, which was around the time the poems would had been wrote. I think the poem ‘The Lamb’ is very pastoral, because it gives us an image of a quiet and peaceful countryside. “By the stream and o’er the mead”, this gives us a image of the scene in which the poem is set. With it he uses positive words such as “rejoice”, this show that Blake loves the wonders of the countryside and wants to see no change. Turning to ‘The Tiger’, it is quite obvious that Blake does not approve of the city overtaking the countryside. An example of this is, “burning bright” and “fire in thine eyes”, it is conceivable that he may be referring to the factories and their chimneys. The rhythm of the poem is strong and powerful and could be linked with the machinery used in this time, as he also mentions “hammer” and “chains” in the same verse as “deadly terrors”. This makes me think that Blake sees the factories and their tools as a predator towards the countryside, like a Tiger, eating its prey, a Lamb. The peaceful countryside is being burdened by the inner cities.
In conclusion, I think the poems can be related to some issues that remain today, such as The Countryside vs. The City issue, also linked to the experience and innocence within the poems. Overall, I preferred the poem “The Tiger” as the more complex vocabulary and strong phrases builds up a more extreme mental image.
Vanessa Bird
