When do we change? When do we change from being the innocent children God sent into the world, to the corrupted ones that leave the earth? William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience examine these different states. Blake wanted to show the two contrary states in the human mind. The Lamb and the Tyger are just vehicles for Blake to express what he feels happens to people as they grow, develop and eventually become perverted by the world around them.
Blake’s background and occupation greatly influenced the style and content of his poems. He lived during the 18th Century when the church was beginning to lose its grip on British society; science was rising up against the church. Blake was part of a group known as the Romantics. He began to challenge the church believing that an individual could discover God without going to church. His poems ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ reflect this, as he is telling how God created these two animals and on another level how he created humanity.
‘We are called by his name’ (The Lamb)
The message that Blake is trying to convey in this line is that it is God who calls us to discover him. He is saying that no one else has the power to tell you what to believe not even the church. God and the individual are the only ones privy to this ultimate power!
His role as an engraver and artist is reflected in the details he gives about the two animals. In The Tyger he describes it as, ‘burning bright.’ He is describing it from a painter’s perspective in the way he is talking of the tiger’s colouring.
At the time Blake was writing The Lamb the French Revolution was taking place. Blake was very supportive of the revolution, as he was deeply concerned about the poor social, economic and political ...
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...is and see them as
normal. It is then that people change from being the untainted
children God sent to earth to the corrupted adults that leave it.
Works Cited
Blake, William. “The Tyger.” The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and et al. 2nd ed, Volume 2A. New York: Longman, 2003.
Blake, William. "The Lamb." The Harbrace Anthology of Poetry. 3rd ed. Ed. Jon C. Stott, Raymond E. Jones, and Rick Bowers. Toronto: Nelson, 2002. 97
Internet Sources Consulted
Blake, William. The Tyger. Songs of Innocence and of Experience. DjVu Editions E-Books, 2001. Web 7 may 2015.
Blake, William. The Lamb. Songs of Innocence and of Experience. DjVu Editions E-Books, 2001. Web 7 may 2015.
Blake paired these two poems together. Just in the titles, the reader can observe the opposites of the animals used for the titles. A lamb signifies that of chastity, purity and naiveness. In fact, this poem was put in Blake’s Songs of Innocence, whereas, The Tyger was placed in Songs of Experience. These two writings show some of the differences between innocence and experience. For example, in The Lamb Blake asks the question, Little Lamb who made thee dost thou know who made thee.” (lines 1-2) The same question is asked in The Tyger, however, in a much different manner. “What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy symmetry?” (lines 3-4) Blake uses the lamb to establish the connection of the natural world and human world with religion. These types of ideas demonstrate that of pastoral life. On the other hand, The Tyger, depicts a different type of life; one that is powerful, and sometimes greedy. However, both of these animals share characteristics that one another need for
The theme of authority is possibly the most important theme and the most popular theme concerning William Blake’s poetry. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God. Blake was profoundly concerned with the concept of social justice. He was also profoundly a religious man. His dissenting background led him to view the power structures and legalism that surrounded religious establishments with distrust. He saw these as unwarranted controls over the freedom of the individual and contrary to the nature of a God of liberty. Figures such as the school master in the ‘schoolboy’, the parents in the ‘chimney sweeper’ poems, the guardians of the poor in the ‘Holy Thursday’, Ona’s father in ‘A Little girl lost’ and the priestly representatives of organised religion in many of the poems, are for Blake the embodiment of evil restriction.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
He stated that Jesus calls himself the Lamb. In this example, Blake utilized an allusion to the Bible. Jesus, the Savior of the world, is referred to as the Lamb of God in the Bible. Blake stated that Jesus is also called a lamb just like the child. This statement implies that a child has the same characteristics as Jesus. Furthermore, he explained the characteristics of Jesus. He wrote that Jesus is peaceful and gentle. He expounded that Jesus was once a child like the reader. Jesus was a child who lived on Earth. He told the reader that Jesus knows each of us by name. In the end, Blake appealed to God to bless the child. He emphasized this blessing as he repeated it.
Blake begins the poem with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” (reprinted in Holt McDougal, British Literature, [Indianapolis: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010] 770). This seemingly simple question is not the speaker questioning the lamb, but himself. “Who made thee?” shows the speaker questioning the origins of creation. Later on, the speaker answers his own question by stating, “He is callèd by thy name/For he calls Himself a Lamb” (Lines 13-14). The Lamb refers to Jesus; the authors of the Bible call Jesus “The Lamb of God,” in more than one occasion (NIV, The Holy Bible, [Colorado Springs: Biblica Inc, 2011] John 1:29, 36). Th...
The two poems of William Blake, The Lamb and The Tyger are two poems that show the different kinds of people in society. To start in the poem The Lamb this shows a person whom is very innocent and caring. It is said in the poem “Little Lamb God bless thee.” Meaning a creature that is so innocent and kind and cute is created by God. This kind of person is also created by God, is innocent, kind, and cute just as well as the lamb. Now on the other hand, you have The Tyger which is also written by William Blake. This poem shows a different type of person in Blake’s society. This person is angry, mean and very dangerous. In this specific poem asks “What the hand, dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” It’s in this statement that Blake asks what kind of person could create such a monster as a tiger. Which he ponders the question of if God could have created something as horrible as a tiger when he had created something as innocent as a lamb. This shows the other type of person in society somebody that is also angry, mean, and very dangerous as a tiger.
The speaker in "The Lamb" starts off with a child. The child addresses the lamb and asks, “Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee” (1-2). The child is very concerned about his existence. He is also very curious, he immediately places the lamb under him by referring to him as "little". In line 5 the child begins to answer his own questions by naming explanations, "Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, wooly, bright;" (5-6). In the second stanza the speaker is ready to give the lamb an answer. He wants to give the answer is a smart way. He does not want to just come out and say it. In line 13 and 14 the speaker says to the lamb "He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb." (13-14). The lamb has the same name as the creator. "Lamb" is the name of the creator, the lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The child continues to explain to the lamb and answer his own questions that God is the number one provider and has given him life, clothing, food, and such a sweet voice. The answer to the child's concern is God. Blake believed that God was the creato...
Print. The. Blake, William. The. “Infant Joy.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed.
William Blake’s 1793 poem “The Tyger” has many interpretations, but its main purpose is to question God as a creator. Its poetic techniques generate a vivid picture that encourages the reader to see the Tyger as a horrifying and terrible being. The speaker addresses the question of whether or not the same God who made the lamb, a gentle creature, could have also formed the Tyger and all its darkness. This issue is addressed through many poetic devices including rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism, all of which show up throughout the poem and are combined to create a strong image of the Tyger and a less than thorough interpretation of its maker.
In the poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," William Blake uses symbolism, tone, and rhyme to advance the theme that God can create good and bad creatures. The poem "The Lamb" was in Blake's "Songs of Innocence," which was published in 1789. "The Tyger," in his "Songs of Experience," was published in 1794. In these contrasting poems he shows symbols of what he calls "the two contrary states of the human soul" (Shilstone 1).
In William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” the speaker begins with the ultimate question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?/ Dost though know who made thee?/” (Blake lines 1-2). The speaker then continues to elaborate on the question in a playful, innocent, singsong manner describing the kindness and thoughtfulness that the creator put in to producing this ever so gentle lamb. The tone of this poem is soft and lulling, the tender, calm rhyme scheme puts the reader in a soothing, dreamlike state. “The words and images presented - stream, mead, delight, softest, tender and rejoice - are positive and pastoral. One can picture a lamb frolicking in the green grass…” (Smith).
Since the two hundred years that William Blake has composed his seminal poem "The Tyger", critics and readers alike have attempted to interpret its burning question - "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" Perhaps best embodying the spirit of Blake’s Songs of Experience, the tiger is the poetic counterpart to the Lamb of Innocence from Blake’s previous work, Songs of Innocence. Manifest in "The Tyger" is the key to understanding its identity and man’s conception of God, while ultimately serving to confront the reader with a powerful source of sublimity which reveals insight on Blake’s ideal union and coexistence of the two contrary states.
middle of paper ... ... Through symbolism and reference, Blake’s “The Tyger” effectively portrays civilized human existence. Although “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” appear to be fairly different in subject matter, both poems include a deep, indirect portrayal of Rousseau’s noble savage myth. Also, both poems include a variety of romantic ideals.
(5) William Blake, "The Lamb," British Literature: 1780-1830, ed. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1996) 278. back
William Blake was born and raised in London from 1757 to 1827. Throughout his early years, Blake experienced many strange and unusual visions, claiming to have seen “angels and ghostly monks” (Moore). For those reasons, William Blake decided to write about mystical beings and Gods. Two examples of the poet expressing his point of view are seen in “The Tyger” and “The Lamb.” Both poems demonstrate how the world is and to sharpen one’s perception. People perceive the world in their own outlook, often times judging things before they even know the deeper meaning of its inner personification. Blake’s wondrous questions actually make an acceptable point because he questions whether God created the tiger with the same intentions as he did with the lamb.