Tiger and the Lamb

The Tiger and The Lamb
William Blake had a very different idea of creation than most. He had created his own version of religion and molded his writings to help in describing his ideas, however in The Tiger and The Lamb; there is evidence that is left up to interpretation of however you as a reader want to interpret it. The opposites and symmetries found in nature were not meant to say that there is evil per say, but to make known the fact that if there is one, the other must be as well.
In reading The Lamb, we find that it is laced with sweet and innocent imagery. Blake draws a picture of the lamb for the reader to see and defines it as having “clothing of delight”(5), “woolly bright”(6), and having “such a tender voice”(7). These images represent the good, the innocent in the world, such as a child. The lamb symbolizes naivety, simplicity, and innocence. As he asks the lamb in line 10, “Dost thou know who made thee?” he seems to present the idea that there is a God who could make something so sweet, and in the next few lines he in a sense questions the idea of Jesus being represented by a lamb as well. A “meek” and “mild” lamb seeing and knowing its purpose. It is pure, and knows no wrong. It is widely known that there is a predator for the lamb. The lamb only knows its one function is to be innocent and to remain in that aspect.
On the other hand, The Tiger is streamed with a more powerful and fiery meaning. Fire is often used in reference to a passionate evil. These words used by Blake are showing more of an experienced outlook on the real on-goings in the world. “Burning” (1), fearful (4), “twists” and “sinews” (10), all represent a more frightening sense of the world, only found through experience. He is trying to get to the core of what God may be like. His images of the tiger being so different on the outside and in the makeup of the inner functions only aid him in his questioning of the ways of the tiger. The “burning” (1, 21) color of the tiger is... [continues]

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