The Tyger and The Lamb
British Literature
March 2nd, 2014
Tyger and Songs of Innocence
Prompt: Prompt: Blake’s Songs of influence and Songs of experience glorify immortality of God, though apparently they read like poems for children and adults respectively.
In the poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, William Blake presents the reader a very startling piece of literature. Reading some of his work from songs of innocence, I was shocked at the way the poems were written. In the poem, The Lamb, I felt as if an elementary student wrote it. It was written in all simplicity and undermined the actual purpose of the poem. However, once reading it again, I realized there’s more to the poem than the simple diction. I went on to do some research about William Blake himself and I learned that he loves lambs. He believes that lambs are the symbols that bring religion and life together. Lambs also embody innocence which is probably a reason why Blake wrote “The Lamb” in his poem, the songs of innocence. Having such an immature and childish approach to his first set of poems, Blake surely had to have something that was on a higher level of maturity. Not failing to impress, Blake also wrote the “Songs of Experience”. This poem took a major spin from his previous poems and the adulthood could really be felt. At first sight, I automatically felt a more serious and manly attitude. In the poem, “The Tyger”, it is believed that the tyger represents a religious figure. My initial response was that the tyger was presented as an image of hope and savior. The tyger is an animal that possesses many traits that signfy leadership, strength and morality. Blake’s vision of the tyger is one that idolizes the maturity of a man and contrasts men from boys.
Both the songs of innocence and songs of experiences have similar structures and rhyme schemes. Both poems have an “aabb” rhyme structure which gives them a nice flow of words. For example, “When the stars threw down their spears and watered
March 2nd, 2014
Tyger and Songs of Innocence
Prompt: Prompt: Blake’s Songs of influence and Songs of experience glorify immortality of God, though apparently they read like poems for children and adults respectively.
In the poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, William Blake presents the reader a very startling piece of literature. Reading some of his work from songs of innocence, I was shocked at the way the poems were written. In the poem, The Lamb, I felt as if an elementary student wrote it. It was written in all simplicity and undermined the actual purpose of the poem. However, once reading it again, I realized there’s more to the poem than the simple diction. I went on to do some research about William Blake himself and I learned that he loves lambs. He believes that lambs are the symbols that bring religion and life together. Lambs also embody innocence which is probably a reason why Blake wrote “The Lamb” in his poem, the songs of innocence. Having such an immature and childish approach to his first set of poems, Blake surely had to have something that was on a higher level of maturity. Not failing to impress, Blake also wrote the “Songs of Experience”. This poem took a major spin from his previous poems and the adulthood could really be felt. At first sight, I automatically felt a more serious and manly attitude. In the poem, “The Tyger”, it is believed that the tyger represents a religious figure. My initial response was that the tyger was presented as an image of hope and savior. The tyger is an animal that possesses many traits that signfy leadership, strength and morality. Blake’s vision of the tyger is one that idolizes the maturity of a man and contrasts men from boys.
Both the songs of innocence and songs of experiences have similar structures and rhyme schemes. Both poems have an “aabb” rhyme structure which gives them a nice flow of words. For example, “When the stars threw down their spears and watered