Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The lamb and the tiger contrast
The lamb and the tiger contrast
The lamb and the tiger contrast
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The lamb and the tiger contrast
Comparing The Lamb and The Tyger by William Blake
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....
Finally, the last similarity was being great at writing. Both authors were able to show strong
“The Lamb, the conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah, is deemed worthy to take the scroll and to assume his role as
In interest of paper length the essays have been narrowed down to include only central topics. First looking at similarities, then differences.
Compare and contrast the poems The Tyger and The Donkey and discuss which poet gives us the clearest depiction of humanity. William Blake is a wealthy, upper-class writer who separates himself from the rest of the wealthy community. Blake has a hate for the techniques used by many of the wealthy, company owners who gain and capitalise through cheap and expendable labour, supplied by the ever-growing poverty in the country. Blake makes a point to try and reveal this industrial savagery through his work. "The Tyger" is presented as a metaphorical approach to the struggle between the rich and the poor; good and evil.
Blake makes sheep seem to have a joyful emotion and wants to share it with others. The sheep has a tender voice, which means it is not intimidating. Natoli, who is the author of the novel William Blake, says that, “The lamb is made by Christ and is an obvious symbol of the mild and gentle aspects of Creation, which are easy to associate with a God of love. However, what about the more fearsome, destructive aspects of Creation, symbolized by the tiger?... ...
This is the first stanza of William Blake's famous poem, "The Tyger" which is also featured as the opening paragraph in "The Child by Tiger", a short story by Thomas Wolfe. In the narrative, a seemingly kind, gentle, and religious African American male named Dick Prosser goes on a vicious rampage after drinking excessively and getting in a fight with his love interest's husband (Wolfe 735). At the end of the story, a large mob made up of vengeful White people seeking justice against the "crazed Negro" tracks him down to a riverbank, where Dick awaits them with his shoes at his side and a firearm squeezed dry of ammunition (739). His stalkers gun him down, hang his lifeless body from a tree, pump him full of 300 bullets, and take his mutilated corpse back to down where he is hung in an undertaker's display window for all to see and enjoy (739). What one may not realize while begin to read this story, is that the excerpt from the Blake poem that precedes the tale actually foreshadows the theme. The tiger spoken of in the poem represents the beast that is inside all men. When provoked, a tiger can mutilate and destroy another creature, much like how Dick Prosser's character lashes out and drops bodies all over town with a repeating rifle and hundreds of rounds of bullets (735). "The Child by Tiger" serves as an example that one can only be pushed so far and be put through so much insignificant mental and physical torment before they snap and fight back against their demeaning community.
The ideas that are presented in poems are often the same ideas everyone is thinking but are too afraid to speak their mind for fear that they might be judged. Allen Ginsberg explained this predicament when he said “[p]oetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private” (Ginsberg). This quote applies especially to “The Tyger” by William Blake. William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” at the surface is very simplistic; however, with further analysis the story’s theme of religion asks fundamental questions that pertain to one’s worldview with the use of symbolism.
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
The idea of intentional flaws may be perplexing at first, but Blake is subconsciously mimicking and following the mold that God has created. Innocence and evil, good and bad exists in many aspects. 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 with 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
In William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” the speaker begins with the ultimate question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?/ Dost though know who made thee?/” (Blake lines 1-2). The speaker then continues to elaborate on the question in a playful, innocent, singsong manner describing the kindness and thoughtfulness that the creator put in to producing this ever so gentle lamb. The tone of this poem is soft and lulling, the tender, calm rhyme scheme puts the reader in a soothing, dreamlike state. “The words and images presented - stream, mead, delight, softest, tender and rejoice - are positive and pastoral. One can picture a lamb frolicking in the green grass…” (Smith).
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"!
Love comes in every way, shape and form, whether it be living under cattle’s feet or living in a beautiful creek. The theme of “The Clod and the Pebble” by William Blake is portrayed through very unique imagery, awesome word choice, and extraordinary relationships. This eccentric poem by William Blake talks about the different lives of a very simple clod and a pebble in which live in two opposite worlds. The way he starts this poem can be very misleading until the second stanza, in here it starts to tell us what it’s really about. William Blake then explains to us the two lives of these two very different souls. The theme of “The Clod and the Pebble” is to accept your life no matter where you live or travel and to not be that person who has a great life, but is always complaining.
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.
" The Lamb" in trying to convey the answers to certain philosophical questions exhibits basic Christian creedal statements. and relays certain images concerning Jesus and also tries to explain His relation to the common man. The opening line of the poem embodies every human's curiosities. surrounding creation and the origins of human existence.