William Blake’s “The Lamb”
and “The Tyger”
Subject and Theme???
From Songs of
Innocence- “The Lamb”
Theme: Faith
• reveals his confidence in his simple
Christian faith and his innocent
acceptance of its teachings.
Subject and Theme???
From Songs of
Experience- “The Tyger”
Theme: Creation
• The opening question enacts what will
be the single dramatic gesture of the
poem, and each subsequent stanza
elaborates on this conception. Blake is
building on the conventional idea that
nature, like a work of art, must in some
way contain a reflection of its creator.
Theme: Creator
• One of the central themes in his major
works is that of the Creator as a
blacksmith.
• Blake identified God's creative process
with the work of an artist. And it is art
that brings creation to its fulfillment -by showing the world as it is, by
sharpening perception, by giving form
to ideas.
Key Image ???
From Songs of
Innocence- “The Lamb”
The Lamb
• the natural world contains much that is
gentle and innocent
• Symbolically, Christ is "the lamb of
God."
Key Image ???
From Songs of
Experience- “The Tyger”
Key Images:
• The Tyger: symbolizes much that is
terrible and frightening.
• The Smithy: represents a traditional
image of artistic creation; here Blake
applies it to the divine creation of the
natural world.
Technical Features ???
From Songs of
Innocence- “The Lamb”
Refrain
• Repetition in the first and last couplet
of each stanza makes these lines into a
refrain, and helps to give the poem its
song-like quality.
Apostrophe
• The poem's apostrophic form
contributes to the effect of naiveté
since the situation of a child talking to
an animal is a believable one, and not
simply a literary contrivance.
Symbolism
• It shows the whole connectedness of
all things, it connects it all with the
creator, the lamb, Jesus, through the
use of the extended metaphor. He tells
him how Jesus was just like a lamb,
using symbolic language, comparing
Jesus to a child. This creates a third
connection, a child is like a lamb, Jesus
is like a child. ”
Technical Features ???
From Songs of
Experience- “The Tyger”
Rhetorical Question
• "The Tyger", which actually finishes
without an answer, is (on this level)
about your own experience of not
getting a completely satisfactory
answer to this essential question of
faith.
Allusion
• "When the stars threw down their
spears / And watered heaven with their
tears"
• A reference to the battle in Heaven
between God and the rebel angels
Imagery
• Words work together to reinforce the
concept of God as a blacksmith
• anvil, hammer, chain, furnace, frame
Repetition
• The repeated use of word the "dare" to
replace the "could" of the first stanza
introduces a dimension of aspiration
and willfulness into the sheer might of
the creative act.
Engraving from Songs
of Innocence. How does
the image convey the
tone, mood, setting, and
action of the poem?
• Colors are pastel and light by nature:
representative of nature
• A gentle, pastoral setting
• The trees gently intertwine to create a
sense of protection
Engraving from Songs
of Experience. How
does the image convey
the tone, mood, setting,
and action of the poem?
• The darker colors create a menacing
atmosphere
• The oranges of the tyger are symbolic
of hell
• The smile of the animal suggests
slyness
How do the poems
work harmoniously to
convey a similar theme
or message?
• The two poems give a perspective on
religion that includes the good and clear
as well as the terrible and inscrutable.
• These poems complement each other to
produce a fuller account than either offers
independently.
• They offer a good instance of how Blake
himself stands somewhere outside the
perspectives of innocence and experience
he projects.
In what manner do the two
poems show the two
contrary states of the
human soul?
• The contrast is made explicitly in a comparison
between `The Lamb' and it's counterpart `The
Tyger.”
• The former is all gentle rhythms and simple,
comforting question-answer dynamics, there are no
such eases in `Tyger.”
• “The Tyger” evokes a persistent, driving, even tribal
feeling, and the poem is all problematic inquiry
without resolution or answer.
• these two worlds are animals as antithetically paired
as tigers and lambs.