Poetry Comparison: William Blake

Before Analyzing the poetry and work of a poet, it is often essential to have at least some background of the one writing. Often times, the beliefs and views of the writer permeate their work. William Blake appears to be no exception. His strong beliefs about Christianity, specifically the deity of Christ and special creation, make looking at his work rather interesting (Watson, 1976). However, Blake also uses many Greek symbols (Gods, Goddesses, etc) in his work which can further complicate and make it very difficult to determine what he actually holds to be true.

These symbols, both Christian and Pagan, are used in the two poems “The Lamb” and “The Tiger”, which can cause confusion when read at face value, and we will have to use what we know about Blake in order to make an intelligent statement about the meaning of his poems. Are they really just a contrast between two animals, or is there a deeper meaning behind the symbolism?

The Lamb” and “The Tiger” were both written by William Blake, who was a poet living in the 18th and 19th centuries. These poems, though they appear to be written within a short time of one another, are dramatically different in their content, tone, and overall theme. Blake does, however, maintain at least some of the same stylistic elements in each of the two poems.

Simply by comparing the titles of the two works, it is easy to see why they would be dramatic opposites of one another. “The Lamb” immediately conveys an image of innocence, while its counterpart communicates a sense of dominance and fear. It is most likely not coincidental that, in the animal kingdom, the tiger would almost certainly prey on the lamb if given the chance. Blake attempts to communicate this in his work.

“The Lamb” is shorter in terms of meter than “The Tiger”, but the poems read much the same nonetheless. They each have a consistent rhyme scheme that could be used in song form if necessary. “The Tiger” has twice the amount of stanzas as that of its counterpart, but is just four full lines longer in terms of actual length.

The tones of the two poems are drastically different. In “The Lamb”, Blake’s word choice is peaceful and almost comforting as he speaks of the subject of the poem. He begins the first stanza by asking a series of questions, thus personifying the Lamb as a creature capable of giving a rational response. He speaks of the Lamb as if he is a created being that did not come into existence by some random, irrational and unknown cause.

By his word choice, the speaker of the poem is affirming the existence of at least some form of eternal deity. Lines 5-6 communicate this principle of creation: “…Gave the clothing of delight/Softest clothing wooly bright.” It is clearly implied that the characteristics of this Lamb were literally given by a creator. The mental imagery in this stanza is one of a literal child of God, and this theme will be expounded on later in the poem.

In the second stanza, the speaker proceeds to answer his own questions as regards the creation of the lamb. He says that it was God who created him, and he states the irony of this situation. In reference to Jesus Christ, he says that it was He who actually called Himself “The Lamb of God” and came to earth as the fully God, fully man savior of the world. Blake takes an interesting approach with this illustration, however. It is rare that someone with such ambiguous and often conflicting religious beliefs be so outright about parallels within a poem. It is usually up to the reading audience to draw such conclusions about a piece of work.

The Tiger” also uses a form of religious symbolism, but in a much different fashion. In this work, Blake uses a more indirect path to affirming a creator. He refers to God as the blacksmith, asking much the same questions as he did in “The Lamb”, as regards creation. He wonders “What immortal hand or eye/ could form thy fearful symmetry?” Again, he acknowledges that there must have been a creator, but instead of drawing the correlation of Christ as he did in the work previously mentioned, he chooses a more indirect means by which to communicate his belief.

The speaker of the poem appears to hold the creator of the Tiger in very high esteem, saying in the second stanza that he must be quite skilled to be able to create something so magnificent. “Oh what wings dare he aspire?” (Line 7) is a way of saying that he must be wholly from above. The speaker is further communicating that, like a blacksmith, the creator forged the Tiger from a fire and molded him to his liking.

Lines 9-12 are devoted to praising the Tiger’s features while at the same time praising the “Blacksmith” who created him. …”And when thy heart began to beat, / What dread hand forged thy dread feet?” The speaker appears to be saying that the Tiger was created with a specific purpose.

The fifth stanza begins with line 17 where the speaker brings an interesting point to the table. His understanding of the brutal nature of the Tiger leads him to wonder whether or not the creator could have possibly been happy with what he had made. “Did he who made the lamb make thee? (Line 20)”.

Blake also repeats the same stanza he used to open the poem in the final stanza of his poem. This method of repetition is interesting because he again questions what “immortal hand or eye” could have possibly created the tiger. It also communicates that the speaker of the poem appears to have no answer, at least in his mind, to the questions which he poses throughout the poem.

The two creations, the Lamb and the Tiger, are not only opposites, but they create a paradox in the mind of the speaker. After all, how could a God who created something as soft, innocent, and pure as the Lamb also create the Tiger, who is characterized as being such a ruthless predator? This is also an illustration of the human race as a whole in there is a very limited knowledge and understanding of the nature of God. As in “The Lamb”, he is personal, but “The Tiger” delivers the aspects of God that we do not understand. Knowing this, we are able to draw the correlation between God’s perfect balance between being personal and yet, in many ways, unknowable in terms of his reasoning and ways. These poems are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to understand without having read both.

When looking at these poems, it is very easy to simply take them at face value and see them as doing little more than illustrating the startling differences between the two animals about which Blake wrote. However, upon further analysis, it becomes clear that we are dealing with a much deeper, more significant issue, especially in light of Blake’s obvious religious beliefs. There are elements of personal creation (God as identified in “The Lamb”) as well as Greek Deistic concepts (The Blacksmith in “The Tiger”). Blake is perhaps trying to illustrate the paradox between the different aspects of the creator God ad the deistic God. (That is, a God that is merely a creator and not personal).

While there is a degree of ambiguity to Blake’s work, it is fairly safe to say that the message of his poems were fairly obvious. In a way, he is asking the same questions many of us find ourselves asking as regards the creation of this universe. How did we get here? What purpose do we serve? Blake is attempting to prove by the complexity of the creatures of this world that there is indeed a creator God and that we are not simply a product of circumstance.