Reading Blake’s selections “The Tiger” and “The Lamb” from Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794) takes the reader or listener from one world into another. In “The Tiger,” there is a mood of “knowing” - that something of a darker nature of life exists and it comes through the words. Reading “The Lamb” on the other hand, evokes a sense of innocence and wonder with virtuous undertones. Comparing and contrasting Blake’s poems “The Tiger” and “The Lamb” is therefore an exercise in the exploration of the limitations and the value of two entirely different world perspectives from one person’s point of view.
Comparative Characteristics of Drama
One clear comparison between the two poems looks at the dramatic nature they both impart. In combination, the poems work together as a transformational experience in creativity of the journey from the hopefulness of childhood combined with the naïve underpinnings of what makes the world work. In this transformational journey with “The Tiger,” the world becomes less innocent with revelations of the corruptive nature of the repressive, restrictive, and despotic authority as Blake interprets the era he lived.
Contrasting
“The Tiger,” represents the harsh adult experiences of the world, whereas “The Lamb” remains representative of innocence. “Blake thus creates an opposition that resists resolution because one side of the symmetry always reflects and defines the other” (Kennedy 359).
Tension Resulting from Innocence and Experience
The contrasting element between innocence (“The Lamb”) and experience (“The Tiger”) creates an intended tension Blake intends with the direct flow from innocence to experience evolving from “The Lamb” through “The Tiger.” In other words this ability of Blake creating an “antithesis of innocence and experience both attracts readers and at the same time compels many to add some interpretation, to bring to bear on the text some assumptions that might resolve the cognitive dissonance of this perfectly crafted balance” (Kennedy 359). Symbolically, Blake using “The Lamb” as representative of innocence clearly draws on this imagery reflected in the Bible in passages about the “Lamb of God.”
Contrasts Outweigh the Comparisons
The contrasts between the two poems of course, as intended by Blake, outweigh the comparison. A subjective observation in reading the two, finds “The Tiger” far more compelling than “The Lamb” and its quaint and somewhat sanitized, and even unrealistic view of the world.
For this reason, the identification of the creature to innocence by the reader contains its own implication. The Tiger on the other hand, relies on the fear Blake intended this imagery relay
Gallant offers how “The Tiger” openly portrays “rebellion, in the text though not the design. The design thus is emphasized, although it is the fiery, savage text that one remembers” (123). In conclusion, as posited in the theme, comparing and contrasting Blake’s poems “The Tiger” and “The Lamb” is therefore an exercise in the exploration of the limitations and the value of two entirely different world perspectives from one person’s point of view. The contrasts of innocence and experience hold true, while the comparison factor looks at the mechanics of writing more than the content. The one clear comparative remains they two poems (songs) are clearly examples of metaphorical writing.
Works Cited
Gallant, Christine. "Blake's Antislavery Designs for Songs of Innocence and of Experience." Wordsworth Circle 39.3 (2008): 123
Kennedy, Thomas C. "From Anna Barbauld's Hymns in Prose to William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience." Philological Quarterly 77.4 (1998): 359.
