Of the many poetic works by William Blake, "The Lamb" and "The Tyger"
show a large amount of similarity, as well as differences, both in the way he
describes the creatures and in the style he chose to write them.
The reader will find many similarities in these two poems. Both of them
discuss the creation of the creatures by God. The lines, "Little Lamb,
who made thee?" and "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful
symmetry" clearly show that the poet is referring to a being who is capable
of creating life (538). These two poems are also alike in the aspect that
they both talk about the object viewed in the eyes of the common man. "The
Lamb" is described in a biblical sense to give the reader a feeling of a
soft, gentle, heavenly creature. In "The Tyger", Blake uses the same
technique to describe the tiger as a fearful, devil-like monster.
The structure of the two poems also reveals a large amount of
similarity. In "The Tyger" and "The Lamb", each consecutive sentence rhymes.
It demonstrates how rhythm captures and keeps the reader's attention as opposed to
a poem lacking rhythm. The use of questions is also highly utilized in the
two written works. This makes the reader ponder the subject discussed in the
poem. The words "thy", "thou", "thine", and "thee" present in the poems show
that both of them were written in the deferential language of the Bible.
Although "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" share many similarities, they also
have some differences. The poems suggest that the lamb and the tiger were
both created by the same creator. The poems read together also raise some
interesting questions. How could a creator create a soft, gentle, loving
creature, and with the same hand construct a dangerous creature? How could
the creator's hand make a creature with the softest clothing of delight, then
grab the fire that is in the tige...