Comparison of Poems The Lamb and The Tyger

Compare "The Lamb" and "The Tyger", focussing particularly on how ideas of innocence and
experience are explored. 'The Lamb' from Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' represents
the idea of purity that is woven throughout the 'Innocence' collection. His poem 'The Tyger' is in the
compilation of 'Experience' poems which offer a darker perspective on life after learning. These two
poems have many similarities and contrasting ideas; Blake depicts these two creatures in such a way
that relates them to the sections they appear in and highlights their differences through language.

The structure of 'The Lamb' is two even ten line stanzas - one stanza a question, the other an answer
- consisting of rhyming couplets. The rhyme scheme helps to create the song-like characteristic; it
also makes the verse flow like a hymn which coincides with the religious symbolism. The language
used is reminiscent of the Bible, this adds to the theme of religion. 'The Tyger' also uses rhyming
couplets within its six quatrains; this and the steady metre (trochaic tetrameter) create a natural
rhythm which could be interpreted as the 'hammering' of the creator or the beating of the heart. This
language also reminds me of biblical verses, particularly the New Testament and the book of
Revelation.

By almost directly copying the first stanza as the last stanza in 'The Tyger' the question asked is
implanted in the reader's mind and the ideas re-enforced. The contrast of the phrases 'burning bright'
and 'forests of the night' could be metaphorically suggesting that the tiger is like a forest fire, the only
thing burning 'bright' through a dark forest which all animals fear. The reiteration of the rhetorical
question:

'What immortal hand or eye/ (Could/Dare) frame thy fearful symmetry' accentuates the question of
who the tiger's creator was. Also by replacing the word 'could' with 'dare' it asks if it is possible that
someone has the power to create the tiger, why would they dare to do so? The half-rhyme of 'eye'
and 'symmetry' helps to heighten the attention given to this uncertainty as all the other couplets are
complete rhymes. The same issue is also raised in 'The Lamb' when the narrator asks the lamb 'Dost
thou know who made thee?' but this suggests the lamb is naive and unknowing of its creator whereas
in 'The Tyger' it is the narrator who is unsure.
The idea of both creators being God raises a fundamental issue for religion, why would a benevolent
God create a creature of such darkness? 'Did he who made the Lamb make thee?' it seems
impossible that these two very different animals, one the symbol of purity the other the symbol of
suffering, could both be created by the 'meek' designer described in the second stanza of 'The Lamb'.
How can the God of 'Innocence' simultaneously be the God of 'Experience'? Lambs are notoriously
connected to religious ideas particularly relating to Jesus as the 'Lamb of God', an icon of
virtuousness. Jesus (as the lamb) sacrificed himself to take away the sins of the world. Lambs denote
a gentle animal, harmless to other creatures and humans, whereas tigers are dominant predators that
strike fear.

I believe 'The Lamb' is in the 'Innocence' collection, because of the aforementioned heavy
connotations linked to lambs. Also a lamb, being a baby sheep, has yet to experience life. It is
repeatedly described as 'Little' which emphasises this idea. Another method Blake uses to make the
lamb appear innocent in comparison to the tiger is by the use of semantic fields. In 'The Lamb' the
words used are natural and not synthetic/man-made for example, 'stream', 'mead' and 'vales', things
that are yet to 'experience' anything different from their natural form. 'The Tyger' also uses words
related to nature, 'forests', 'skies' 'stars' however this opposes a more dominant semantic field of
industrial creation, 'hammer', 'chain', 'furnace', and 'anvil'(which interestingly is also a tool used in art).

The industrial semantic field relates contextually as this poem was written in 1793, amidst the
Industrial Revolution which involved mechanisation, this was seen as technologically advancing
however caused many negative social effects. Considering this 'The Lamb' could be seen as
representing a simpler time when things were made by hand and 'The Tyger' could represent the shift
of manufacturing demonstrating the bad social product of industry. Also the reference in 'The Lamb' to
its wool being 'clothing' can be viewed as nature being exploited by man as we use it for our own
means.

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