Comparing "The Tyger" and "The Lamb".

Comparing “The Tyger” and “The Lamb”

By Simon 10ah

William Blake published two very famous books of poems of “Songs Of Experience” and

“Songs of Innocence” Poems from the “Songs Of Experience” are all about God who brought all the evil and suffering into the world. However, the poems from the “Songs Of Innocence” are about the redemptive God of the New Testament, like Jesus. I am choosing a poem each from the “Songs Of Innocence” and one from the “Songs Of Experience”. I am going to compare them to find out if there are any similarities or differences between these poems written by William Blake. The poems I have chosen are “The Lamb” (From Songs of Innocence) and “The Tyger” (From Songs Of Experience).

The Tyger is written in quatrains and The Lamb is written in longer verses and less stanzas. You can tell from looking at the animals that they are the opposite. The lamb is helpless and pure whilst the tyger is more fierce and viscous. The rhythm of “The Tyger” to me feels like the rapid beating of the heart, which might make the reader of the poem might feel scared. The Lamb makes the poem slow, and the beating is much more slower and calm. The Tyger is about the nature of creation, but The Lamb is talking about the darker side of creation. When I was looking through Blake’s poems, I thought that the two poems were different because of their structure. The Lamb had less stanzas and The Lamb had more stanzas. Then I decided that they were the opposite, because one was in the “Songs of Innocence” and one from the “Songs Of Experience”

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In “The Tyger” the God in it is strong, dark and sinister. He is described as a dark blacksmith from the quote “What the Hammer?” and “What the Chain?” makes the poem hard and evil. The mention of tools reminds me or other people of the factories of the industrial revolution. “The Tyger” brings the mood of power, dark and dangerous from the quote “Burnt the fire of thine eyes?” The poem begins with “Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" and ends with "Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?" I think this is significant is because William Blake is trying to say is who has the ability to make this bad and evil creature. In The Tyger, the speaker is much more strong and old than the child of The Lamb. The tone is more dark and questioning. The speaker asks, “What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Blake use of this question shows us the loss of innocence and trust in even the immortal hand of God.

In “The Lamb” the poem is very well structured. In the first verse it has the questions and in the second verse it has all the answers. When I looked at the poem briefly, it reminded me that it sounded like a nursery poem, which children read. The Lamb brings the mood of calm, reassuring and happiness from the quote “By the stream and over the mead” which makes it relaxing and more interesting. Blake then makes it clear that the poem’s point of view is from that of a child, when he says "I a child and thou a lamb" The lamb and the child are both symbols of Jesus Christ and the language of The Lamb is filled with joy and harmony. Jesus Christ is often described as a lamb, and Blake uses lines such as “he is meek and he is mild” to get his point out too the reader.

Blake uses a lot of visual imagery in these poems to get the message through to people. The Tyger is evil and The Lamb is good, and the message that Blake is trying to make is that there is a battle between good and evil. I think there is usually an opposite poem for the “Songs Of Innocence” and the “Songs Of Experience”. I think The Lamb and The Tyger go together. The Tyger is a predator, and the lamb is the prey of the tiger. The Tyger is questioning Gods creations. The Tyger shows implications of the devil and evil in its imagery but The Lamb shows what animals represent in both humans and life in general. Together they show contrary sides of human’s nature. I think that Blake is trying to make us think, off what the poem means to him. Innocence is "why and how?" while experience is "why and how do things go wrong, and why me?" The questions are similar but the poems from the experience have a step further.