Anaysis of William Blake's The Lamb, The Tyger, and Proverbs of Hell

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William Blake, was born in 1757 and died in 1827, created the poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell. Blake grew up in a poor environment. He studied to become an Engraver and a professional artist. His engraving took part in the Romanticism era. The Romanticism is a movement that developed during the 18th and early 19th century as a reaction against the Restoration and Enlightenment periods focuses on logic and reason. Blake’s poetry would focus on imagination. When Blake created his work, it gained very little attention. Blake’s artistic and poetic vision consists in his creations. Blake was against the Church of England because he thought the doctrines were being misused as a form of social control, it meant the people were taught to be passively obedient and accept oppression, poverty, and inequality. In Blake’s poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell, he shows that good requires evil in order to exist through imagery animals and man. In Blake’s work “The Lamb,” he shows innocence through sheep and their nature. Blake describes sheep’s nature by saying that they “Feed/By the stream & o'er the mead/ have thee clothing of delight/ Softest clothing, wooly, bright” (Blake 4-6). This passage shows that sheep are providers to man and show no harm. Blake says that sheep has a, “tender voice/ making all the vales rejoice?” (Blake 7-8). Blake makes sheep seem to have a joyful emotion and wants to share it with others. The sheep has a tender voice which means it is not intimidating. Natoli, who is the author of the novel William Blake, says that, “The lamb is made by Christ and is an obvious symbol of the mild and gentle aspects of Creation, which are easy to associate with a God of love. However, ... ... middle of paper ... ...cause also must be some type of evil. Works Cited Blake, William. “Proverbs of Hell.” Poetry Foundation. Web. 2014 Blake, William. “The Lamb.” Poetry Foundation. Web. 2014. Blake, William. “The Tyger.” Poetry Foundation. Web. 2014. Natoli, Joseph. "William Blake." Critical Survey Of Poetry, Second Revised Edition (2002): 1-12. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. Powers, Luke A. "The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell." Masterplots II: Christian Literature (2007): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. Williams, John. "Building A Heaven In Hell's Despair: The Everlasting Gospel Of Revolution According To William Blake And Douglas Oliver." Romanticism 18.2 (2012): 155-164. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.

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