The lamb and the tyger are two different poems written by William Blake. One called songs of innocence the other songs of experience. Both poems follow an AABB rhyme method and both talk about their creator. When you read the two poems one after the other you can really see both sides of the story, and it is wonderful.
An alternative name for Jesus is the lamb the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, so in the first couple sentences I thought it was Jesus talking to a lamb; but as I read on I saw it was just the narrator asking questions to the lamb and then answering them in the second half. In this poem there is a question Little lamb who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? this question reminds me of one of the basic sayings of the bible God made the heavens and the earth and all who roam the earth or one a lot of people say God made you, and God has a plan for you. In this poem I think the lamb is trying to figure out the meaning of his existence.
We as humans still ask why evil exists; in the tyger the speaker wonders how this creature could be created by God. There is a bit of tiger in all of us; for instance Adam and Eve choose to eat the forbidden fruit after being told not to. The tiger is like the irrational voice inside our heads telling us to do something even though we know it is wrong.
Personally I liked the tyger better, because it leaves you thinking since he doesnt answer the questions like he does in the lamb. And to me who made you in the lamb got kind of annoying. But I love the mystery in the tyger; perhaps Blake was questioning the good and evil in his own soul when he was writing the tyger. I love how in this poem it shows the good and the evil part of the tiger. The quote did he who made the lamb make thee? caught me in a trap, I always thought God created good and evil (as it says in the bible). I always thought God created us to make our own choices; we have a choice to follow him, or to be different and go against the 10 commandments and be considered evil; although if you ask for forgiveness God will forgive you; but what about the tiger? The tiger has no choice he was made to kill in order to survive, so I also ask how could God create such a thing?
The main question Blake is asking is how can God create such a vicious tiger and an innocent lamb at the same time. Well they say a lot in church and the lion shall lay with the lamb I take it as a sign of peace/unity. If you read into it you can see that it is saying no matter how different we are or how evil some may be, we can still coexist together because we are from the same creator.
Already have an account? Log In Now
6779