The first question one should ask writing about The Tyger or The Lamb is ?Who is the author?? William Blake (1757-1827) is considered one of the major poets of the Romantic period. Not only was Blake a poet though, he was also an artist. In both his poetry and his art Blake explored mainly Christian subjects. This religious focus in his art stemmed from his mystic belief and the visions he perceived of angels and even God himself. In 1789, Blake published a set of joyful and lyrical poems known as the Songs of Innocence among them, The Lamb. In 1794 though, war broke out between England and France. It has been speculated that the war may have been the cause for Blake's composition of a companion set of poems. This set of poems, which he named the Songs of Experience, reflected a more mature and pessimistic view of the world.
William Blake's portrait in profile, added later t...
Blake's illustration of "The Lamb"
William Blake's frontispiece for Songs of Innocenc...This set included The Tyger.
Between the two sets, Blake created a contrast between the simple and happy Songs of Experience and his innocence lost Songs of Experience. Truly this contrast is best seen between Blake's poems The Tiger and The Lamb. The poems are written with very different tones and subjects but they retain some similarities which make the comparison all the more intriguing.
In his poems ?The Tyger? and ?The Lamb? William Blake wonders about the creation of these two animals. In the beginning of both poems the author asks himself what kind of force could have created the tiger and the lamb. Both animals contrast beauty and horror. One poem is the complement of the other. While the tiger symbolizes evil on earth, the lamb symbolizes good things through the thoughts of an innocent child. Blake also suggests that nature in some way...