The Lion And The Tyger Essay Research

Paper

Of the many poetic works by William Blake, “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”

show a large amount of similarity, as well as differences, both in the way he

describes the creatures and in the style he chose to write them.

The reader will find many similarities in these two poems. Both of them

discuss the creation of the creatures by God. The lines, “Little Lamb,

who made thee?” and “What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful

symmetry” clearly show that the poet is referring to a being who is capable

of creating life (538). These two poems are also alike in the aspect that

they both talk about the object viewed in the eyes of the common man. “The

Lamb” is described in a biblical sense to give the reader a feeling of a

soft, gentle, heavenly creature. In “The Tyger”, Blake uses the same

technique to describe the tiger as a fearful, devil-like monster.

The structure of the two poems also reveals a large amount of

similarity. In “The Tyger” and “The Lamb”, each consecutive sentence rhymes.

It demonstrates how rhythm captures and keeps the reader’s attention as opposed to

a poem lacking rhythm. The use of questions is also highly utilized in the

two written works. This makes the reader ponder the subject discussed in the

poem. The words “thy”, “thou”, “thine”, and “thee” present in the poems show

that both of them were written in the deferential language of the Bible.

Although “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” share many similarities, they also

have some differences. The poems suggest that the lamb and the tiger were

both created by the same creator. The poems read together also raise some

interesting questions. How could a creator create a soft, gentle, loving

creature, and with the same hand construct a dangerous creature? How could

the creator’s hand make a creature with the softest clothing of delight, then

grab the fire that is in the tiger’s eye? Blake suggests God seemed pleased

with his creation of the lamb and felt a feeling of fear and regretfullness

after creating the tiger. In “The Lamb”, William Blake compares the lamb to

the Baby Jesus. In contrast, he uses earthly features such as night, fire,

skies, and forests to describe the mighty tiger.

The two poems also show differences in the way they were written.

Instead of using alternating two and six lined stanzas like he used in “The

Lamb”, Blake uses constant four-lined stanzas to provide his image of his

tiger. The titles also reveal different spellings. The lamb is spelled as it

was intended, simple, short, and sweet. In Blake’s “The Tyger”, he replaces

the letter “I” with the letter “Y” to give the name a deceptive and creepy

appearance like the creature he is describing in his poem. The stanzas

present in “The Tyger” end in question marks more often than they do in the

lines of “The Lamb”. By reading both of the poems, the reader will discover

that the word “God” is replaced with the word “He,” leaving the reader to

assume that the poet is referring to God when he talks about He. Another

noticeable difference between the two literary works is that the first and

last two lines of each stanza are repeated in “The Lamb” as opposed to the

whole first and last stanzas that are repeated in “The Tyger”.

“The Lamb” and “The Tyger” by William Blake are both remarkable works of

poetry. They both reflect the personal style of the poet, but they also

show the difference in the poet’s attitude in describing his subjects. He

gives the reader the impression of an innocent lamb in which God took great

pride. He then gives the reader the thought of God’s disapproval after his

creation of the tiger.