Discussion Topic
Analysis of imagery and juxtaposition in William Blake's "The Lamb" and "The Tyger"
Summary:
In "The Lamb," Blake uses gentle and pastoral imagery, with the lamb symbolizing innocence and divine creation. Conversely, "The Tyger" features fiery and fearsome imagery, representing experience and the darker aspects of creation. The juxtaposition between the two poems highlights the contrasting themes of innocence versus experience and the complexity of the creator's nature.
Compare William Blake's poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger".
Blake's poem "The Lamb" consists of two stanzas, each one of ten short lines. The lines are six or seven syllables in length, with slight variations from trochaic trimeter. Lines 9 and 10 are repetitions of 1 and 2, while lines 12 and 20 repeat lines 11 and 19. The lamb of the title is apostrophized and questioned:
Dost thou know who made thee
The rhetorical nature of the question is emphasized by the lack of a question mark. The diction is simple, even childish, with words such as "Softest," "bright," and "tender" stressing the lambs innocence and purity. The second stanza provides the answer to the question. God, who became the Lamb of God, his own son, made both the lamb and the child who addresses the lamb. The poem ends with a blessing.
In "The Tyger ," a very different type of animal is apostrophized and questioned....
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The tiger is also asked arhetorical question of the same type:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
The poem is only four lines longer than "The Lamb" and in a similar meter, but the lack of repetition, except in the final stanza, makes it more substantial. It consists of a long series of questions, expressing wonder at the tiger in dramatic language far removed from the childish diction of "The Lamb."
The penultimate stanza links the poem with "The Lamb" even as its imagery distances the two:
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Discuss the use of imagery in William Blake's "The Lamb" and "The Tyger."
In “The Lamb,” Blake’s images are soft and light, suggesting innocence and purity. The speaker questions who made the lamb and says that its creator gave it soft wool, “clothing of delight.” In addition, the lamb’s voice is “tender,” which gives the valleys great happiness. The lamb travels over meadows and next to streams of water, which are peaceful images. The speaker answers his own question by telling the lamb that God has created it to be “meek” and “mild” just as he (God) is. The soft and harmonious images throughout the poem leave the reader in a tranquil state.
By contrast, in “The Tyger,” Blake’s images are harsh and fiery. The speaker also questions who made the tiger but states that it was created in the harsh fire of a furnace. The images of heat and burning run throughout the poem. The speaker tells the tiger that it was created with hard tools, such as an anvil, hammer, and chain. It is easy to picture the tiger’s eyes burning, since it was fashioned from fire, and its deadly nature, since it has “fearful symmetry.” The speaker concludes that when the tiger was created, the stars “water’d heaven with their tears.” Here, water creates a negative image, since it comes from tears, which speak of sadness. The harsh imagery of the poem leaves the reader in a fearful state.
What effect does juxtaposing "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" by William Blake have?
When you juxtapose the two poems “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” you get a battle of the rhythms, where one is fierce and the other is innocent. Together, they are like two halves of the same song.
Blake wrote the two poems as a spiritual symphony. They are meant to be read together. They each represent halves of nature, and elements of the two sides of God’s creation.
If you go from one to the other, you see the vivid ferocity of the tiger…
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
… contrasting with the mewling sweetness of the lamb.
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
Each has rhyme, but both the rhyme and the word choice is softer for the lamb and harsher for the tiger. We admire and fear the tiger, we shelter and embrace the lamb.
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