William Blake's Tyger and Lamb

The poet William Blake was born in London in 1757. Though he never achieved much recognition as a poet during his lifetime, living as he did in debt-induced poverty, he is now one of the most acclaimed of the English poets, and his works are considered an important and essential addition to any encompassing anthology. The story of Blake's life is an intriguing one, filled with struggle and strangeness. For instance, he claimed that he saw visions of god and angels, which featured heavily in his poems and illustrations. He also created his own mythology, as he disagreed with much of orthodox Christianity, though he still retained some of its beliefs. The poet William Wordsworth once commented, “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”

Blake was considered strange for more than his visions, however. A political radical for his times, he supported both gender and racial equality, as well as the American revolution. During his adult life, he worked as an engraver, though he continued to write and illustrate his own poetry. Many of Blake's most famous poems can be found in the collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The first half, Songs of Innocence, was published separately in 1789. Included among its poems are “Little Boy Lost”, “Little Boy Found”, and “The Lamb”. The second half of the collection, Songs of Experience, was first published in 1794, and includes such well-known poems as “The Tyger”, “Ah, Sunflower” and “A Poison Tree”.

“The Lamb”, Songs of Innocence
Blake divides this poem into two separate stanzas. The first stages the question “Little lamb, who made thee?” and goes on to describe the lamb, what it looks like, sounds like, how it gambols in a pleasant meadow, etc. On first glance, the description is merely physical, what one might write about an actual lamb. The second half of the poem begins with an answer to the first: “Little lamb, I'll tell thee”, and describes Jesus Christ/God as the little lamb's maker: “He is called by thy name / For He calls Himself a Lamb.” The theme here, as with most of the poems in the collection, is that of innocence and childhood. A lamb is a baby, a fresh being to the world, with connotations of happiness and pleasure. So we can imagine the subject of the poem in various ways- firstly as an actual lamb, and secondly as a baby or child, a tender, innocent human. By bringing in the second verse, Blake could be pointing out the connection between God and humans, emphasizing His transformation into the mortal man Jesus, and therefore the link between the common and the divine, which in this case is gentle and innocent (though not necessarily always so, as we will see in the "The Tyger").

The technical aspects of the poem are simple, with an easy rhyme scheme and recognizable rhythm. In fact, it is now known that “The Lamb” and other Blake poems were meant to be put to song. Though the original music is lost, many have performed and recorded their own musical versions of this poem.

“The Tyger”, Songs of Experience
Arguably Blake's most famous poem, “The Tyger” is an instantly recognizable piece. It was written as the counterpart to “The Lamb”, and serves as an interesting contrast. Like its counterpart, “The Tyger” focuses on the question of creation, and the link between common and divine. However, instead of answering this question right away, as is done in “The Lamb”, this time the question persists throughout the whole poem, as each aspect of the creation of the tiger is described, from “the sinews of thy heart” to its “deadly terrors” and “fearful symmetry”. Just as experience is the opposite of innocence, so a fearful, predatory tiger is the opposite of a gentle, harmless lamb. It's important to note that this does not necessarily symbolize the opposition between good and evil, as the tiger's description denotes beauty along with its power.

The end of this poem gives us the poet's true sentiment, wherein he wonders, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” Though both lamb and tiger are completely different, even opposite, they were created by the same being. What does this mean? It means that the world is not a simple place, neither Hell nor Paradise. It means innocence and experience, strength and weakness, soft and hard, all exist (and must exist) together. It means that maybe there is a plan after all, rather than just chaos, and everything was created the way it was for a reason. It means all this, and more. I encourage you to read both poems and consider their meanings for yourself.
The Lamb
The Tyger