The Lamb by William Blake

Tyler Miller

9/14/16

Monday and Wednesday 11:00 - 12:20

The Lamb by William Blake

In The Lamb, by William Blake, the innocence of nature is emphasized. William Blake uses the technique of questioning, but the questions have answers that are already known. He also emphasizes that only people who don’t lose their unity with god can see the beauty, delight and the happiness of the life. Also only those people again can see the beauty behind the nature. They see themselves like a god, because they are the reflections of the god on the earth, so they are inseparable. In the poem, the lamb stands for innocence and people who have a bond with the god have also innocence in their spirits. and for them the physical appearance is not important, it is only important to have a good spirit and joy of life and delight. For example, he says, "softest clothing wooly bright; gave thee such a tender voice," in these lines, he again emphasizes that ordinary people cannot understand these beautiful things.

The Tyger by William Blake

The tiger initially appears as a strikingly intense image. However, as the poem progresses, it takes on a symbolic character, and comes to embody the spiritual and moral problem the poem explores: perfectly beautiful and yet perfectly destructive, Blake’s tiger becomes the symbolic center for an investigation into the presence of evil in the world. Since the tiger’s remarkable nature exists both in physical and moral terms, the speaker’s questions about its origin must also encompass both physical and moral dimensions. The poem’s series of questions repeatedly ask what sort of physical creative capacity the “fearful symmetry” of the tiger bespeaks; assumedly only a very strong and powerful being could be capable of such a creation.

Conclusion

The reference to the lamb reminds the reader that a tiger and a lamb have been created by the same God, and raises questions about the repercussions of this. It also invites a contrast between the perspectives of “experience” and “innocence” represented here and in the poem “The Lamb.” “The Tyger” consists entirely of unanswered questions, and the poet leaves us to awe at the complexity of creation, the sheer magnitude of God’s power, and the mystery of heavenly will. The perspective of experience in this poem involves a sophisticated acknowledgment of what is unexplainable in the universe, presenting evil as the prime example of something that cannot be denied, but will not withstand facile explanation, either. The open awe of “The Tyger” contrasts with the easy confidence, in “The Lamb,” of a child’s innocent faith in a compassionate universe.