William Blake, a well known, British romantic poet, wrote The Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. You can see in several of his poems, that when they are paired together they fit perfectly into his thesis of “Two contrary states of the Human Soul”. Along with his writings ,William Blake would have engravings that went with each of his poems that would were used to help enhance the tone of each of his poems. When it comes to William Blake’s thesis of “Two Contrary States of the Human Soul” it can best be described as two conflicting yet at the same time complementing states that the soul must go through. You must have the innocence and the experience. Both sides are necessary to each other and as William Blake wrote in his piece The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , “without contraries there is no progression” (Blake, P.148). If you look at his poem The Lamb, which comes from his works Songs of Innocence, he shows there is a child who is asking a lamb, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” (Blake, 1) it is at this time that the child begins to tell and explain to the lamb of the one who created him. “Little Lamb God bless thee”. The Lamb is written in apostrophe form allowing for this scenario of a child speaking to a lamb asking it questions, even though he knows it will not answer him back to be …show more content…
It is this different type of wording he uses in this question of his work The Tyger, that seems to evoke a much darker or even an evil feel too the question of who made him than in The Lamb. Both of the poems are talking of creation, but in The Lamb , the little boy answers the question by saying that it was God, and in The Tyger , only more questions are left, there are no
The idea of the innocence having been created or forced to exist is lost as the poem focuses on the children and how innocent they are. This stands out particularly in the second stanza which uses end rhyme and repetition to underline just how many children seemed to be going into the church. It is also in that same stanza that the children are referred to as lambs, which is a common symbol for innocence. It is not simply the multitudes of children, but the multitudes of the innocent that have been gathered. ...
In Blake’s poem “The Lamb” from Songs of Innocence, Blake proves that in order to keep innocence alive, a child must not question. It is in a child’s nature to trust all that has been told. Therefore the lamb represents childhood as well as innocence. The lamb is personified as being a gentle creature without sin, and the poem itself is characterized by pleasant light imagery. This imagery is an indicator that innocence is a desired state of being. In the first stanza of the poem, the narrator asks questions regarding
godly misery. But it could also be the pain of the people as not only
In the poem, "The Lamb," from Songs of Innocence, William Blake asks the little lamb, "Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?" (1351). It is here where the author purposely questions the reader and leaves the reader, wandering for an answer to that precise question. The author then continues by leading the reader to an indirect possible answer to his question by saying "Little Lamb I'll tell thee! / He is called by thy name, / For he calls himself a Lamb" and proceeds a line later with "He became a little child; / I a child & thou a lamb." It is apparent that he doesn't exactly give a direct answer. He mentions in an roundabout way that the lamb's creator calls himself a Lamb and that he became a little child. This vague background provides an idea who the creator actually is, but not enough to somehow match the creator with God from the biblical texts. And, since the information is vague, the reader really can't come to a narrowed conclusion because the answer itself depends on the reader's beliefs and experiences and so therefore leaves the true answer to the question still unanswered.
In one of the illustrations, the Little Black Boy is still black when he meets God even though in the poem he claims that color will no longer matter. The way that they are standing is very interesting too because the poem suggests that they will be equal, but the Little Black Boy is described as standing behind the child and in the picture, he is standing behind the white boy. This could be another example of Blake showing how innocent people and naïve people are close to the same thing. The boy thinks one way, but Blake is showing the reader the way things really are through his
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.
Blake is saying to the lamb, I'll tell you who made you, and it is
From the imperfect symmetry of the poem’s form to the incongruent harmony between the poem and the illustration, they all emphasize the idea that good and evil exist simultaneously. It is only in an imperfect world is one able to gather knowledge, make mistakes, and gain experience. It all comes full circle when looking back at the collection, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, that the poem The Tyger is derived from. Without both evil and good, the author would not have had the ability to identify with experience, and the poem The Tyger would not be the same.
In the second stanza the speaker restates the question, then proudly the speaker declares, “Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,/ Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!/” (Blake lines 11-12). Allusions to Christianity blossom in the poem at this point as the speaker states that the creator of this lamb is called by the same name. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is referred to as the lamb of God and/or the Sheppard, His followers are also referred to as His flock. The speaker then proceeds to state that he and the lamb are one and the same, ending the poem with “Little Lamb God bless thee./ Little Lamb God bless thee./(Blake lines 19-20) this invokes reassurance in the reader.
giving the tiger an even more awe-inspiring quality. The stanza finishes with "Did he who made the lamb make thee?" Which gives the idea of disbelief at the prospect of a creator making a harmless pleasant creature such as the lamb and a dangerous mighty and awful creature like the tiger. b) Explore the ways Blake uses imagery and repetition in this poem. The most obvious repetition in this poem is the "Tiger"!
In conclusion these two poems by William Blake are both deep and have hidden meanings, they both use imagery, repetition, alliteration and ryming couplets as well as biblical references to create a vivid pictures in the readers head. But these poems do differ in many ways such as the structure, theme and way it is written. The Tyger appeals to me most as it has more hidden meanings than the Lamb and the Lamb is boring and as if written by a child (for effect). In this essay I have analysed, contrasted and compared the two poems The Tyger and The Lamb to the best of my ability detailing the poetic devices used and the underlying meanings.
William Blake, a romantic poet in the late 1700s, wrote a collection of biblical poems, called The Songs of Innocence and Experience. In this collection, Blake wrote a six-stanza poem consisting almost entirely of questions, titled “The Tyger”. Blake addresses this “Tyger” throughout the entire poem, beginning by asking who or what immortal creature made the Tyger. Blake then describes the Tyger as a fearsome and evil creature and tries to understand how the person who made the Tyger could have continued the process once it’s horrible “heart began to beat” (Blake 11). He compares the creator of the animal to a blacksmith, asking if the creator used an anvil and hammer to create the creature or other tools. Towards the end of the poem, Blake
In William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” seems to focus on having one 's reasons overwhelmed by the beauty and horror of the natural world, but it also includes religion and creation. In the beginning the tyger is being questioned about his creation, and who created him, “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry (line 3-4). This quote is more or less asking, “who created you and why did they create you?”. A vital contrast is made throughout the poem of good and evil; beauty and horror, the tyger is said to possess both
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.
Frighteningly beautiful and destructive, Blake’s tiger becomes the main symbol for his questions into the presence of evil in the world. For example, The reference to the lamb in the final stanza, “ Did he who made the lamb make thee?” reminds the reader that a tiger and a lamb have been created by the same God, and raises questions about the implications of this. Is there a purpose beh...