The lamb and The Tyger

-William Blake

William Blake

William Blake was born in London and was educated at Henry Pars Drawing School before
becoming apprentice to the engraver, James Basire (1772-79). By the time he opened a print
shop in London in 1784, he was already established as a graphic designer and drawing tutor.
When he went to live in Sussex (1800-03), he was charged with high treason but acquitted,
after which he returned to London. After a rather unsuccessful show of his artistic work in
1809, he went into obscurity and became a mystic. A radical supporter of the French
Revolution, he was an outright critic of the social evils which he linked with the Industrial
Revolution. His work as a poet and artist is usually understood in the context of his social,
political and religious beliefs. He was not really understood by his peers but much has been
written on him by twentieth-century readers who appreciate the greatness he achieved in his
many fields of interest.

Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

Songs of Innocence was published in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794. Although
these works are epoch-making in more ways than one, they hardly made an impact then.
Jacob Bronowski says: ''They were as formative for the culture of the 20th century in Europe
and America as the Bible and The Pilgrim’s Progress have been for an earlier age". Blake saw
clearly the shape of things to come; the problems of urban living, the power structures, the
animosities among nations and the bitter rivalries among industrial societies, Blake's
prophetic insights made no sense to his contemporaries, but we are in a better position to
understand the terrible truths conveyed in his poems. Blake has chosen simple models for
these "songs". They are the hymns of Charles Wesley, the moral verse of Isaac Watts and other
Nonconformists. But there is one important difference, Blake reverses the roles of the poet
and the child and makes the child teach the poet. Broadly, in Songs of Innocence, the child
narrates the joys of life in nature; in Songs of Experience, the child is trapped in prisons of
state and the Church.
 Note on Songs of Innocence

The former are happy songs written to and about

children, the latter depict, to use Blake's own words,
the "contrary state of the human soul". Songs of
Innocence is statement of the reaffirmation of the New
Testament doctrine, "Lest ye become again as a little
child ye cannot hope to enter the kingdom of heaven".
This is underscored by Blake's use of pastoral Christian
symbols (the Christ child, the lamb, the shepherd, etc,).

William Blake Songs of Innocence title page

1789

Note on Songs of Experience

Having experienced the hypocrisy and cruelty of

the world personally, Blake was indignant in Songs of
Experience. If Innocence is Heaven, Experience is Hell,
Love and joy are suppressed by selfishness and by
restrictions imposed by the priests (The Garden of
Love). The children's laughter is silenced by adults; the
children are exploited by an insensitive world (The
Chimney-Sweeper), The Church and the State, two
pillars of society, are indifferent. Sometimes they even
connive, to cause suffering to children. Blake thought
that these social evils were shameful. As a poet be
could speak out with indignation and compassion.
Russell Noyes says: "These songs reverberated the
intensity of his feeling in brilliant denunciatory
phrases, tight rhythms, and searing imagery. The best
of them is rarely to be matched elsewhere in Blake, or William Blake Songs of Experience title page 1794
(for that matter) in their kind in anyone else".

Songs of Innocence: The Lamb

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou how who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
 By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight

Softest clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee such tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou how who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:

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, The Lamb
We are called by his name.

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Notes on The Lamb

This short poem describes innocence and refers to the mystery of creation. The speaker in the poem is
an innocent child who asks the lamb a series of rhetorical questions concerning its birth and upbringing. The first
stanza of ten lines mirrors the child-like quality of innocence. There is an air of gaiety which is expressed in word
like 'delight', 'bright', 'rejoice'. The lamb's own "gentle" nature is indicated by words like 'softest', 'wooly',
'tender'. The speaker who is himself tender, young and gentle is delighted by the sight of the lamb. There is a
parallel in that the lamb and the child share the same qualities. The second stanza of ten lines attempts to answer
the questions posed to the innocent lamb. Without naming Christ, the speaker says that the maker (or creator)
calls himself a lamb. He shares the qualities of meekness and mildness with the lamb and becomes a child. The
lamb, the child and Christ are one.

There is the same divinity that hedges a child and a lamb as it does Christ. The diction used in this poem
is very simple and it is appropriate to a child; the rhythm is like lisping numbers of a child. If the first stanza
stresses the beauty, gentleness and tenderness of the innocent lamb, the second stanza attributes similar
qualities to the creator. And the creator calls himself lamb or child.

Songs of Experience: The Tyger

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

The Tyger
 And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of Thy heart?
And when Thy heart began to beat
What dread hand, & what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

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?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Note on The Tyger

This is not only Blake's most famous poem, but one of the great poems in the English language.

The first thing we notice in this poem is the unusual spelling of the word, "Tyger”. Although Dr. Samuel
Johnson mentioned it as an alternative form of the more common spelling, "Tiger', Blake's spelling conveys a
unique feeling. In this context, it is important to remember that for Blake a poem is not a group of words
presented in a linear fashion on a page, but a poem is a visual object. His engraving and painting are integral
parts of his verbal art. Thus, a poem by Blake is meant to be seen and read. Only then is its full impact felt. So,
the unconventional spelling reinforces our sense of wonder at the beauty, fierceness and strength of the tiger.

Our astonishment is expressed through a series of fourteen questions in a span of twenty-four short
lines. Eleven of these questions are fired rapidly in the first sixteen lines. In the first four stanzas, the poet
attempts to augment the reader's sense of wonder progressively by asking a series of rhetorical questions on
the extraordinary powers required for creating an animal like the tiger. The creator must possess the same
qualities to be ‘able to produce such a creature. The nature of the Tiger, as Lionel Trilling says, is defined by the
nature of God. In the last two stanzas, there is a reversal of this procedure. God is defined by the nature of the
Tiger. God who created a meek and mild creature like the lamb dared to create the ferocious Tiger. Earlier we
saw that the lamb, the child, and Jesus are one and the same. That such a God created the tiger is not
comprehensible to the stars who are the agents of divine law. As Blake himself suggests, it is the "contrary state
of the soul". The Lamb and the Tiger represent two aspects of God and two states of man.

The sound effects in the poem are striking. The metre employed is trochaic tetrameter which is itself an unusual
form. There is a good deal of alliteration and assonance. The diphthong (ai) in Tyger recurs throughout the poem.
The poem may be explained in terms of the creation myth and the problem of good and evil in the world, what
baffles man is that a kind God who created a mild lamb also created the ferocious Tiger. It is incredible; "Did he
who made the Lamb make thee?" The Book of Job in the Bible raises the same question.

The poem is a fine example of compression. The questions at the end of the, stanza lack a verb:

And when thy heart began to beat

What dread hand? what dread feet?
 This is the revised draft. Blake must have felt that the fragment is forceful enough and that it
underscores the tone of exclamation. In one sense, The Tyger is a simple and enjoyable poem. It raises the
common question: How do you account for the forces of good and evil in the universe. Blake's Tiger has a dual
aspect, it is both beautiful and terrible as the repetitive phrase, "fearful symmetry", suggests. We should also
remember that Blake turns from the Tiger to an examination of the nature of the creator.

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

There are allusions in the second stanza to daring attempts in mythology to challenge God: "On what
wings dare he aspire?" is a reference to Icarus flying high towards the sun. The creator of the Tiger who had
burning fire in his eyes must have had stronger wings than Icarus's wings joined by wax which melted due to the
heat of the sun, In, the very next line there is another question. What the hand, dare seize the fire? This is a
reference to Prometheus's stealing fire from heaven for mankind's benefit, these two acts of daring and courage
are outdone in the creation of the tiger.

Suggested Reading
• Solitary Reaper – William Wordsworth
• Kubla Khan – ST Coleridge
• Ode to the West Wind – PB Shelley
• Ode on A Grecian Urn – John Keats
• She Walks in Beauty – Lord Byron