First off, I have found that I have a hard time with
analyzing pretty much any piece of literature. It just isn’t my cup of tea; I
find it difficult so bear with me. Also sorry for the late post, half the
outlets in my house went out last night and they shut off my router so I had no
Internet until this morning.
Anyways, I did enjoy the two poems by William Blake, “The
Lamb” and “The Tyger” both question the creator, but in different yet similar
ways. In one it is happy and bright, the other poem seems aggressive and more
dark and heavy.
In “The Lamb” it seems more happy and bright, the author
uses happier sounding words to describe the creation of the lamb. “Gave thee
clothing of delight/Softest clothing wooly bright”(“The Lamb” 5-6). The lamb is
soft and wooly, and it isn’t to be feared. The creator creates this kind,
mellow creature because it has the power to do so. The author shows that the
creator does have a good amount of power being able to do this, “Gave thee life”(“The
Lamb” 3). The creator gave the life to the lamb, so the create has an immense amount
of power. The lamb can also be seen as weak though, but as we see in “The Tyger”
the tiger is powerful and feared.
In “The Tyger” Blake also shows the same power from the
creator. “What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”(“The
Tyger” 3-4). The creator has to be powerful to be able to create this powerful,
feared and respected beast the tiger is. The poem seems a bit heavier with the
use of words like “fearful” and also “burning bright” as apposed to the soft
words used in “The Lamb.”
What I noticed is even though they are both written by
William Blake, it also seems the narrator of the poems might be the same
person; In “The Tyger” it makes a referral to the lamb, “Did he who made the
Lamb make thee?”(“The Tyger” 20). There are also similar ways the author uses
the word thee; he uses if often in both poems, so maybe it is because it is
supposed to be the same person talking.
After reading both poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" by William Blake over and over again to myself and out loud I finally realized which statement each poem is making. Your interpretation of both poems helped me to understand and see more meaning into some of the words used. Great ideas and great post!
ReplyDeletehi Joseph
ReplyDeletegreat post i like the way you make the interpretations on both of the poems. i dont enjoy poetry because it hard for me to understand but after reading these poems like a thousand times i found a couple of imagery for example The Lamb the speaker uses imagery to illustrate how and why the animal lives, and the clothing of delight symbolizes security and comfort that the lamb should feel to be able to move forward and live the best he can
Hey i really liked your interpretation. I also did these poems. I really enjoyed both because of their religious views. I agree that both poems describe God. I agree that both describe different sides of God and what he does and can do. "The Lamb" showing the love, care, and mercy of God, while "The Tyger" shows the power and strength like you said. Great post!
ReplyDelete