The Lamb and The Tyger

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The Lamb and The Tyger

In the poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," William Blake uses symbolism, tone, and rhyme to advance the theme that God can create good and bad creatures. The poem "The Lamb" was in Blake's "Songs of Innocence," which was published in 1789. "The Tyger," in his "Songs of Experience," was published in 1794. In these contrasting poems he shows symbols of what he calls "the two contrary states of the human soul" (Shilstone 1).

In "The Lamb," Blake uses the symbol of the lamb to paint a picture of innocence. The lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The lamb is also a symbol of life. It provides humans with food, clothing, and other things humans need to survive. The line "For he calls himself a Lamb" is a line that Jesus himself has used (Blake 538). A lamb is a very meek and mild creature, which could be why Blake chose to use this animal to describe God's giving side. He even refers to God as being meek and mild in line fifteen: "He is meek, and he is mild." Blake wants to show his readers that God is vengeful but a forgiven and loving creator.

In "The Tyger," William Blake takes the opposite position he did in "The Lamb." In "The Tyger," Blake shows the God has created a sort of evil creature in the tiger. Blake compares God to a blacksmith when he made the tiger. He does this by using lines like "What the hammer," "What the chain," "In what furnace was thy brain," What the anvil"(Blake 539). By asking these questions Blake shows us that God must have been a blacksmith because of the use of words like anvil, hammer and furnace. These are all things that blacksmiths use. The tiger is a violent stalker of his prey and by definition a blacksmith is a violent profession. When Blake says "wh...

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... for the rhyme scheme is the same as it was for "The Lamb." They both are done to make you really think twice when you read the poem. At first reading you may miss the whole theme that the poems are about but then after a reading or two the profound message jumps out at you.

In conclusion, the symbols, persona, and rhyme of the poems each add to the theme it portrays. It is a poem about the existence of God and whether he creates both good and bad things. The persona is both of a young child in "The Lamb" and an older person in "The Tyger," which shows that when little God can be mild, but when older he is more unforgiving. Also, the symbols of the lamb and the tiger are to show the good and bad sides of God. And finally, the rhyme is simple to help make the impact greater. "The Lamb and The Tyger" are poems about the good and bad things that God has created.

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