The Tiger And The Lamb

The Tiger And The Lamb

When do we change from being innocent, loving, carefree young children to experienced, stronger, older adults and having the ability to face the realities of life. William Blake wanted to show us two contrary states in a human mind, one that is innocent and one with the experience to face reality of life. The lamb symbolizes innocence of a child’s early years and the tiger symbolizes an adult because it is stronger, wiser, and is aware of danger. Blake wanted to express what happens to people as they grow, develop and eventually face the consequences in world around them.
The lamb is about innocence seen through eyes and mind of a child and glorifies the essence of love and goodness within the world. This theme is achieved through word choices such as “tender” “meek” “mild” and “woolly”.   The lamb gives you an image of god because of its gentle, kind, and tender voice. An example from the poem is “for he calls himself a lamb. He is meek, and he is mild; he became a little child.”
The tiger is presented as a wise but powerful force that should be feared. He has the essence of importance and an understanding of the evil in the world. The tiger teaches us that even something so strikingly beautiful can quickly change and become violently evil. This theme is achieved through word choices such as “fearful” “dread” “spears” and “burning bright”.  
The two creatures both reflect the image of god. The tiger resembles god because of its power, strength, wisdom, energy, fierceness and skill. The lamb gives you an image of god because of its gentle, kind child-like manner. The setting on each of these poems gives you an image as well; the lamb is set by the stream and over the meadow, while the tiger is in the forest of the night. This immediately conveys a view of darkness something that only an adult would be able to understand. “The tiger” you get a quick image that it is going to be a darker and mysterious   while “the...