Analysis of The Lamb and The Tyger by William Blake Essay -- William B

William Blake was a first generation Romantic poet. Many of his poems were critical of a society who thought themselves to be almost perfect, a society run by, not their own free will, but the use of technology. He wanted people to question what they had always done, and whether it was morally right. He did so by using varying techniques that set up clashes between ideologies and reality. His poems allow us to see into ‘the eternal world of the spirit’ and his dreams of the sacred England he had always wanted, a place undamaged by technology, a place that is peaceful and tranquil. But not all his poems reflect this. In fact, from Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’ there are a number of poems, describing what life could be like and in reality what life is like. Two examples are ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’. We can see he uses poetic techniques to set up such clashes. These two poems demonstrate exactly Blake’s views on the ills of society, mainly referring to the industrial revolution and the impacts and consequences it brought. ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ are both poems written in the form of a lyric which describes the capturing of a particular moment and most importantly the mood or insight it stimulates in the poet. Blake thought that a lyric gives the freedom to tell anything and explore the emotions and ideas that some incident has created. Blake shows the original meaning of ‘lyric’ by actually titling his volume ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’. The ‘Songs of Innocence’ are poems which bring out happy feelings and show the greatness in life. They represent innocence and a child - like vision, thus ‘The Lamb’ is about God creating a lamb who is a special and holy creature. The ‘So... ...and ‘symmetry’ do not rhyme unlike the other rhyming couplets. This is also to cause confusion and bring about s sense of unease, the same confusion Blake felt through his life and child hood when he had visions and the society around him was changing. ‘The Tyger’ and ‘The Lamb’ are two poems written along the same lines but ending up to be completely different. However both poems show the same beliefs and opinions of William Blake perfectly and emphasize what he wanted everyone to remember and the lesson he wanted everyone to learn. This was that no matter how far man gets with technological advances and no matter how far the industrial revolution takes people; it will never be able to beat down the tool of human imagination, which is by far the strongest, and natures wild spirit, found in creatures such as the ‘fierce’ tyger and ‘meek & mild’ lamb.