William Blake 1757-1827 Poet, Artist, Engraver

1. William Blake1757-1827Poet, Artist, Engraver The Lamb The Tyger

2. The Lamb • Little Lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,By the stream and o'er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing, woolly, bright;Gave thee such a tender voice,Making all the vales rejoice?Little Lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?

3. Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,Little Lamb, I'll tell thee.He is called by thy nameFor He calls Himself a Lamb.He is meek, and He is mild;He became a little child.I a child, and thou a lamb,We are called by His name.Little Lamb, God bless thee!Little Lamb, God bless thee!

4. “The Lamb” was first published in a book called Songs of Innocence. • Its partner poem in the book Songs of Experience is called “The Tyger.” • “Taken together, the two poems give a perspective on religion that includes the good and clear as well as the terrible and inscrutable. These poems complement each other.”

5. “The poem is a child’s song, in the form of a question and answer. The child’s question is both naive and profound. The question (“who made thee?”) is a simple one, and yet the child is also tapping into the deep and timeless questions that all human beings have, about their own origins and the nature of creation.”

6. The poem is an apostrophe. • An apostrophe addresses something not human as if it were human. • The child is addressing a lamb. • “The answer is presented as a puzzle or riddle.” • “The child’s answer reveals his confidence in his simple Christian faith and his innocent acceptance of its teachings. The lamb of course symbolizes Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus as a lamb underscores the Christian values of gentleness, meekness, and peace.”

7. Tyger! Tyger! burning brightIn the forests of the night,What immortal hand or eyeCould frame thy fearful symmetry? • “What immortal being created this terrifying creature which, with its perfect proportions (symmetry), is an awesome killing machine?”

8. In what distant deeps or skiesBurnt the fire of thine eyes?On what wings dare he aspire?What the hand dare seize the fire? • “Was it created in hell (distant deeps) or in heaven (skies)?” • “Here the author compares the burning eyes of the tiger to some transplanted distant fire that only someone with wings could reach and only with impermeable hands could seize.”

9. And what shoulder, & what art.Could twist the sinews of thy heart?And when thy heart began to beat,What dread hand? & what dread feet? • “In this verse we have a metaphor giving us a vision a skillful and powerful blacksmith creating the tiger's beating heart awakening a powerful beast.”

10. What the hammer? what the chain?In what furnace was thy brain?What the anvil? what dread graspDare its deadly terrors clasp? • “This verse continues the allusion to a creator, who, having made the fearsome best, must confront with the sheer terror of a tiger's nature.”

11. When the stars threw down their spears,And watered heaven with their tears,Did he smile his work to see?Did he who made the Lamb make thee? • “The author wonders whether the creator of the fierce and predatory tiger could also make the docile, gentle lamb. “

12. Tiger, tiger, burning bright  In the forests of the night,  What immortal hand or eye  Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? • “The poet repeats the central question of the poem, stated in Stanza 1. However, he changes could (Line 4) to dare (Line 24). This is a significant change, for the poet is no longer asking who had the capability of creating the tiger but who dared to create so frightful a creature.”

13. The poem consists of six quatrains. (A quatrain is a four-line stanza.) Each quatrain contains two couplets. (A couplet is a pair of rhyming lines). Thus we have a 24-line poem with 12 couplets and 6 stanzas. • Where is the alliteration? • Lines 1 & 4