The poem “The Lamb” is a rather simply written poem. Stemming from ‘Songs of Innocence’ it seems almost like a child’s poem. The entire first stanza of the poem asks questions about the Lamb’s existence and creation. “Little Lamb who made thee?” This poem is also written in a unsophisticated rhyme pattern which seems to add to the simplistic nature and childish tone of the poem. The reader gains a feeling for the Innocence that the Lamb portrays. The animal itself, the lamb, it’s seen to be a very calm and harmless creature .With “wooly bright” clothing ,it plays in the pastoral settings of streams ,meads ,or meadows and vales ,or valleys. Concurring that streams and pastures are images commonly seen in the Bible, which is possibly what Blake is referring to not only in this poem, but throughout his work .During the first stanza, Blake also seems to be comparing the lamb to an innocent child. ‘Gave thee such a tender voice’.
Throughout the second stanza this comparison between an innocent child and a lamb continues and expands to comparing the Lamb to a Christ or god-like figure, while keeping child-like mentality. This idea is supported by these lines, “He is called by thy name, / For he calls himself a Lamb; / He is meek and he is mild, / He became a little child”. The Lamb and the child, are both symbols of Jesus Christ and of the innocence that is classically assigned to both figures from the threshold of society. The lamb is another name for Christ as is shown throughout many scriptures in the Bible. The language of this poem is filled with mellow and soft words such as, “life,” “stream,” “bright” and “rejoice”. This innocence though, is prominently remembered just after it is lost, for Like a deceased loved one, innocence once lost and gone forever.
The joyful happiness of a child’s blind faith is opposed in “The Tyger” which appears in ‘Songs of Experience’. “The Tyger” is a rather different poem than “The Lamb” with images of “fire,” “hammer,” “furnaces,” and “spears”. Both creatures, the lamb and the tiger, question their creator. Similar to “The Lamb,” Blake opens “The Tyger” with a question in stanza one, “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” In other words, Blake is asking ‘Who made you?’ Perhaps Blake asks this question because he wants to know if God actually made both a beast and an innocent creature, which are perceived to be opposites of each other. ‘Contrary to ‘The Lamb’, Blake seems to ask the question of the creator a little differently in ‘The Tyger’ and leaves the question unanswered.
Throughout “The Tyger” the lines are regular and rhyming, but unlike “The Lamb” the rhythm of the poem is heavy using harder consonant sounds, in words such as “burning,” “bright,” “brain,” “dread,” “dare,” “deadly,” and “terrors”. The tiger STALKS the jungle contrasting with the lamb who innocently grazes in a pasture. The tiger is a fearsome beast preying and stalking on the unforeseen land in the jungle and imagery used in this poem is more infernal, than heavenly. Hammers, chains and anvil relate more to an industrial factory than an artist’s workshop. This workshop is a direct relation to Blake’s early job in his fathers workshop where he talks of the sounds that he hears, and it seems to mirror that of a workshop. With references to ‘distant deeps’ , fire, ‘furnace’ .Perhaps the influence of his father had much to do with not only the sounds, but also the themes of some of his poems.
On the one hand ‘The lamb’ portrays that of innocence and vulnerability, whereas , ‘The Tyger’ is ferocious and violent. In my opinion Blake seems to be suggesting that both animals exist in the human heart throughout a person’s life. A lamb represents what you are going through in child hood , however as you grow up and become an adult, you seem to develop a tiger-like outlook on your life and in your heart. There is also another similarity suggesting that both animals are creations of God, as shown in the first stanzas of both poems, and also that both creatures’ natures are fixed by God.
It has been suggested that Blake believed that a person had to pass through an innocent state, like that of a lamb in childhood innocence, and also absorb the contrasting conditions of experience ,in adulthood, like that of a tiger. Blake’s vision of creative force in the universe made a balance of innocence and experience, shown through the poems “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” ‘The Tyger’ represents the power and energy of God, as well as adult hood and consequently was placed in the anthology ‘Songs of Experience’. ‘The Lamb’ represents God also, but in contrast as an innocent child trying to figure out the world and surroundings around him, much like Blake was doing when he was growing up and therefore this poem was placed in ‘Songs of Innocence’.
