Analysis of The Lamb and The Tyger by William Blake

William Blake was a first generation Romantic poet. Many of his poems

were critical of a society who thought themselves to be almost

perfect, a society run by, not their own free will, but the use of

technology. He wanted people to question what they had always done,

and whether it was morally right. He did so by using varying

techniques that set up clashes between ideologies and reality. His

poems allow us to see into ‘the eternal world of the spirit’ and his

dreams of the sacred England he had always wanted, a place undamaged

by technology, a place that is peaceful and tranquil. But not all his

poems reflect this. In fact, from Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and of

Experience’ there are a number of poems, describing what life could be

like and in reality what life is like. Two examples are ‘The Lamb’ and

‘The Tyger’. We can see he uses poetic techniques to set up such

clashes. These two poems demonstrate exactly Blake’s views on the ills

of society, mainly referring to the industrial revolution and the

impacts and consequences it brought.

‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ are both poems written in the form of a

lyric which describes the capturing of a particular moment and most

importantly the mood or insight it stimulates in the poet. Blake

thought that a lyric gives the freedom to tell anything and explore

the emotions and ideas that some incident has created. Blake shows the

original meaning of ‘lyric’ by actually titling his volume ‘Songs of

Innocence and of Experience’.

The ‘Songs of Innocence’ are poems which bring out happy feelings and

show the greatness in life. They represent innocence and a child -

like vision, thus ‘The Lamb’ is about God creating a lamb who is a

special and holy creature. The ‘So...

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...and ‘symmetry’ do not rhyme unlike the other

rhyming couplets. This is also to cause confusion and bring about s

sense of unease, the same confusion Blake felt through his life and

child hood when he had visions and the society around him was

changing.

‘The Tyger’ and ‘The Lamb’ are two poems written along the same lines

but ending up to be completely different. However both poems show the

same beliefs and opinions of William Blake perfectly and emphasize

what he wanted everyone to remember and the lesson he wanted everyone

to learn. This was that no matter how far man gets with technological

advances and no matter how far the industrial revolution takes people;

it will never be able to beat down the tool of human imagination,

which is by far the strongest, and natures wild spirit, found in

creatures such as the ‘fierce’ tyger and ‘meek & mild’ lamb.