Coexistence of Contrary States in Blake’s The Tyger

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Coexistence of Contrary States in Blake’s The Tyger

Since the two hundred years that William Blake has composed his seminal poem "The Tyger", critics and readers alike have attempted to interpret its burning question - "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" Perhaps best embodying the spirit of Blake’s Songs of Experience, the tiger is the poetic counterpart to the Lamb of Innocence from Blake’s previous work, Songs of Innocence. Manifest in "The Tyger" is the key to understanding its identity and man’s conception of God, while ultimately serving to confront the reader with a powerful source of sublimity which reveals insight on Blake’s ideal union and coexistence of the two contrary states.

The most significant underlying ideology of William Blake’s poetry is his essential psychomachia - the "contrary states", as Blake himself calls them. The work in which "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" appear distinctly states Blake’s purpose in a preface: "Shewing the two contrary states of the human soul." In "The Lamb", a basic question and an answer are given. The poem is a catechism (Miner 62). The simplistic and comfortable resolution purposely has no doubt or ambiguity surrounding its initial message of love, tranquility, Jesus Christ, and above all, innocence. The speaker sees God in terms he can understand - gentle and kind and very much like us (Reinhart 25). A tremendous void is clearly apparent. The poem’s straightforwardness leaves the reader with a discomforting feeling of the need for a more sophisticated perspective on the relationship between maker and humanity. This instinctual need for a contrary state gives birth to the tiger.

The tiger’s imagery is astonishingly vivid. The beast "burning bright" with "fire" indicates ...

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...d the Age of Revolution. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965.

Erdman, David V. "Blake: The Historical Approach." William Blake. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.

Miner, Paul. "’The Tyger’: Genesis & Evolution in the Poetry of William Blake." Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Jane Kelly Kosek. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1995. 59-64.

Natoli, Joseph. "William Blake." Notable Poets. Ed. G.E. Bentley. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1995. 79-95.

Paley, Morton. "Tyger of Wrath." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Ed. Morton D. Paley. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969. 68-92

Raine, Kathleen. William Blake. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1969.

Reinhart, Charles. "William Blake." DLB. Ed. John R. Greenfield. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. Vol. 93. 23-25.

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