THE TYGER AND THE LAMB (copy)

3.0 OBJECTIVES

This unit will help you understand:

• William Blake as a Romantic poet

• William Blake’s idea of dualism in his Songs of Innocence and Experience

• Blake as a critic of social evils in the ‘Chimney Sweeper’ poems

3.1 INTRODUCTION

William Blake was one of the most mysterious Romantic Poets in the 18th-19th centuries, Britain. He was not only a poet but also an engraver, a painter, and a mystic. He amalgamated imagination with originality to create a most curious concoction. Mixing word with image, most of his poetry is accompanied by rich art work. Despite his inherent mysticism, his works displayed a heightened sensibility and sensitivity towards social issues. He can be called a ‘‘veritable polymath’’ since he was also a musician, giving tunes to his own poetry and singing them aloud as songs.

Blake was born on 28th November, 1757 in a middle class family which lived in Soho in London, the city where he spent all his life. In 1772, he joined as an apprentice with a renowned engraver called James Basire where he was gradually drawn towards medieval art and history. He produced many spectacular works which were unique blends of poetic and artistic genius memorable to generations after him. The most famous of these are: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Jerusalem and Songs of Innocence and Experience. All of his works emerge from a personal mythology which could be seen as radical. Because of his dense philosophy, he never achieved the acclaim which he should have received during his lifetime and in his later years, was relegated to being close to insane. He was married to Catherine Boucher, who assisted him throughout in his pursuits but died childless.

3.2 THE SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE

The poems in this unit are from William Blake’s work titled ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’. This was a collection of his poems first printed by Blake himself in 1789, also illustrated with his own sketches. He republished the work five years later by including additional poems and called it Songs of Innocence and Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of Human Soul. Innocence and Experience are states of consciousness for Blake, neither of which is dispensable. Both, according to him, go on to make a composite whole. These two ideas suggest a mythical dualism which is a characteristic of the universe which incorporates binaries. The poems here are called ‘songs’ because as one of Blake’s associates reported, Blake sang them aloud. Music was an important social skill with songs and singing being a vibrant and dominant culture among all sections of the society of the times. Operas and oratorio for the wealthy and street ballads for the poor were fairly common.

Though these poems seem to be relatively simple, even as they are written in childlike rhythms and rhyming patterns, they are deeply political, conveying complex emotions and commentary on existing social vices. Through images and imagery of everyday life, children, nature, animals and flowers, Blake portrays social injustices such as poverty, child labour, and abuse. As Julian Walker suggests, Blake’s ‘‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’’, can be seen in relation with the development of children’s literature as a genre. According to him:

The 18th century saw the development of children’s literature as a genre: by the middle of the century it had become a profitable business. William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience look superficially like traditional 18th century verse for children. But, in fact, the poems challenge and overturn many of the ideas and conventions contained in children’s literature, exploring complex ideas about childhood, morality and religion.

Various types of children’s literature proliferated at this time, depending on various ideas and constructions of childhood at the time. According to the Christian morality of ‘original sin’, children were perceived as inherently evil who had to be redeemed by training and punishment to become good Christians. On the other hand, in John Locke’s work such as ‘‘Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)’’, the child’s mind was perceived as an impressionable blank slate, to be carefully managed in order to create obedient, law abiding citizens. Jean Jacques Rousseau on the other hand thought of children as distinct entities, different from adults. The Romantics followed closely on his heels and constructed childhood as the ideal human state of pre-lapsarian innocence and adulthood as necessarily corrupt, characterised by a loss of innocence. Literature for children ranged from emblem books where animal anecdotes administered moral lessons, natural history books dealt with flora and fauna and school hornbooks that displayed both the alphabets and Biblical texts on a wooden

William Blake: ‘The Tyger’, ‘The Lamb’.

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paddle covered with transparent horn. These developed later into spelling and grammar textbooks and instructional books, most of which were illustrated, just like Blake’s works. However, in very many ways, Blake went against these widely prevalent children’s literature and subverted it. Fundamentally, Blake’s view and voice are that of a child rather than of a preaching adult. Blake refuses to offer a clear moral resolution which is very uncharacteristic of children’s literature such as the chapbook. Without making a moral judgment, Blake’s poetry elicits a respect for the duality of natural world and of existence.

Michael Phillips speaks of the illustration on the title page of the Songs of Innocence which depict:

Two children standing at the knee of their nurse or mother reading from a book, out of doors, in a garden or the countryside. Symbolically a young vine British Romantic Literature I entwines itself for support around the trunk of a tree that in turn provides shade. Birds rise up through the lettering of the title. A piper in a broad brimmed hat leans against the capital letter of I of Innocence, while higher up, children can be seen playing higher up in O and G of Songs and an angel leans back against the letter N engaged in writing in a book.

Phillips, who compared this to other children’s books of the times, finds Blake so much more progressive than the others. The picture spoken about above, in choosing an outdoor setting, makes the scene positively Romantic in its orientation. The children are placed in an idyllic surrounding, reading out to the adults. They are in control of their knowledge. This significant shift makes the adult acknowledge the children’s way of experiencing the world.

3.3 THE LAMB

The Lamb is one of the simplest poems of Blake. It came out in his ‘Songs of Innocence’. The symbolic meaning is almost obvious and overtly stated. There is a simple affirmation of faith. The companion piece for this poem is thought to be ‘‘The Tyger’’ in his Songs of Experience where he asks the rhetorical question, “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” The Lamb posits the process of creation as natural and spontaneous. In this poem, the speaker seems to be a child who compares the lamb with Jesus Christ and himself, a child. Addressing the lamb, the first of the two stanzas is full of questions:

Little Lamb who made thee

Dost thou know who made thee?

Gave thee life and bade thee feed.

By the stream and o’er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice!

Little Lamb who made thee

Dost thou know who made thee?

On the other hand, the second stanza gives answers to the ones posed in the first part:

Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,

Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!

He is called by thy name,

For 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.

The Lamb’s innocence and gentleness is associated with that of Christ, the archetypal shepherd: the shepherd who was in charge of his herd. This of course, is only symbolical of Christ as a guide of mankind. Just as a lamb leads a completely natural existence feeding on grass and drinking from streams and clothed in soft wool, similarly a child is also, as the Romantics believed, and in the words of Wordsworth, “the father of man” in its state of innocence and oneness with nature. This oneness is reminiscent in turn with man’s euphoric pre-lapsarian past in the Garden of Eden, man’s original existence. By that logic, the father of man, Adam is also a child.

The gentle bleating of the lamb is similar to the merry chirping of the child which liven up the fields and valleys and the pastoral outdoors with their frolic and make it a repository of joy and happiness. They are both united in this as they share and inherit the gentleness of Christ, the Son of God. In Christian symbolism, Christ is memorialised, visualised, and worshipped as a little child in the arms of Virgin Mary. His vulnerability at the hands of worldly vices throws his innocence to even sharper contrast. The child then is pitted against the adult and the lamb is thereby contrasted with the tiger. The lamb and the tiger go to represent the dual facets of creation and the continuum of life. Good and vice are also the two aspects of the human soul. The stanza and therefore, the poem ends with uttering sincere prayers of long life to the lamb who is a representative of childlike innocence. As long as innocence is alive, the soul is alive and the world is balanced against the odds. The implicit meaning of this poem becomes even clearer when read in the light of its companion poem ‘‘The Tyger’’.

Check Your Progress -1

1. The Lamb symbolises:

a. Experience

b. Anger

c. Innocence

d. Sadness

2. The companion poem of The Lamb is:

a. The Chimney Sweeper

b. The Book of Urizen

William Blake: ‘The Tyger’, ‘The Lamb’, ‘The Chimney

Sweeper’

British Romantic Literature I

c. The Tyger

d. The Lion

3. The Lamb is compared to:

a. Jesus Christ

b. The God of Old Testament

c. The God of New Testament

d. Nature

3.4 THE TYGER

This poem appeared in The Songs of Experience. Along with The Lamb, The Tyger asks the same question about human beings’ birth, origin, and creation. ‘‘The Lamb’’ in ‘‘The Songs of Innocence’’ affirms that God made the lamb. Whereas the lamb posits the process of creation as natural and harmonious, the tiger is a vehicle to reflect the sinister designs existent in the universe. Together, they make what Blake calls “the fearful symmetry”. The reverberating question here is “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” The silent response of course is that the same hands dared to make both. The carnivorous tiger is a predator, whereas the herbivorous lamb is a meek and timid animal meant for prey. Though the lamb and the tiger are antithetical to each other, the same maker has shaped them. The ecological cycle places them within a continuum which balances evolution and nurturance.

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the Forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Tyger is full of strong aggressive words like “burning”, “night”, “fearful”, “deeps”, “dread”, “deadly”, “terrors”, which carry the sense of dark, awe inspiring experience. This makes the reader aware of the terror that is essentially connected with creation. The tiger reveals to us the darker and fiercer side of creation.

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fires of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

In Blake’s personal mythology, the maker of tiger seems to bear a reference to Prometheus, who in Greek mythology, stole fire from the land of gods to gift human beings their civilisation. The fire that glows in the luminescent eyes of the tiger in the night seem to be the same, which was tamed and trapped by the bold hands of Prometheus and stolen from the land of gods. Prometheus was a Titan, a rebel and a cultural hero celebrated by many poets during this time, the most prominent being P.B. Shelley, whose Prometheus Unbound (1820) was an iconic work. In Blake’s own personal mythology, he revises the creation myth to take us before creation. Him who he calls Urizen is a self-absorbed creator of a novel universe and its rules and his son Orc is also a spirit of rebellion,

resistance, and freedom. As the French Revolution triggered admiration and response in much of Romantic poetry and its imagery, this spirit of rebellion and freedom from authoritarian aristocracy is celebrated and written about with gusto. The tiger’s ferociousness also symbolises bold challenge to prescriptive rules and thus becomes a vehicle of challenge and freedom.

The poem is full of references to rebellion and therefore references to mythological characters emblematic of resistance and rebellion abound here. Along with Prometheus, there are overt and covert references to Satan who was struck by thunderbolt “As stars threw down their spears”, and to Icarus “Of what wings dare he aspire?” or Vulcan/Mulciber “In what furnace was thy brain?”. These have led most scholars to identify the tiger as a symbol of revolution. Peter Ackroyd is of the opinion that:

Even as Blake worked upon the poem, the revolutionaries in France were branded in the image of a ravening beast – after the Paris massacres of 1792, an English statesman declared, “One might as well think of establishing a republic of tigers in some forest of Africa” and there were newspaper references to the “tribunal of tigers”. At a later date, Marat’s eyes were said to resemble “those of the tyger cat”.

In his Prelude (1850), Wordsworth talks of post-revolutionary Paris in the section ‘Residence in France’ as a “place of fear [...] Defenceless as a wood where tigers roam”. [Book X]

Many critics have also read the poem as a response to the progress of industrialisation so rampant at this time. Along with fire, which stands for human civilisation and industry, the next two stanzas speak of the creation of the tiger as a divine industry:

And what shoulder, and what art

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? And what dread feet?

The tiger seems to be like a paranormal being. Every bit of the tiger’s physical form exudes a preternatural aura. There is absolute awe, majesty, and mystery in the fashioning of the tiger’s lethal muscular form, of its agile gait. The definitive suggestion of another worldly intervention is pitched to another level, to a level beyond human imagination: of a supernatural power nearly like those ingenious machines whose novelty had a whole generation spell bound for their miraculous abilities.

What the hammer? What the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? What dread grasp,

Dare it’s deadly terrors clasp?

This stanza carries an implication of Vulcan, the God of fire and also of metalwork and smithery, referred to as Mulciber in Milton’s Paradise Lost or as Haphaestus in Greek mythology. Vulcan was thrown over the crystal battlements by an angry Jove. As Mulciber in Paradise Lost, he was the designer and architect of Satan’s palatial Pandemonium which housed his notorious ‘Stygian Council’.

William Blake: ‘The Tyger’, ‘The Lamb’, ‘The Chimney

Sweeper’

British Romantic Literature I

The fire, the anvil, and the hammer are the signature instruments related to the dark god, Vulcan, who also becomes the representative of industrialisation and thereby an antagonist of the benevolent Christ of the poem The Lamb. This latent ambiguity is foregrounded in the next stanza:

When the stars threw down their spears

And water’d heavens with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who make the Lamb make thee?

The simple certainties and moral explanations of ‘‘The Lamb’’ disappear, giving way to a set of anxious ruminations and ambiguities. If the process of creation of the docile and submissive lamb is natural and organic, the creative force behind the making of the tiger is much more aggressive and passionate. However, as Blake expresses in his Marriage of Heaven and Hell, the creative process is inherently enigmatic encompassing dualities and a complex intermingling of energies. Therefore, it is beyond the scope of a moral and didactic knowledge to understand the synergic harmony of the universe inhabited by diverse creatures and also of schizophrenic tendencies of human impulse and spirit which is only a reflection of this divine duality. This brings us to the final lines of the poem, which seems to be almost identical to those in the end of the first stanza:

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

There is a difference of only a word “dare” in the last stanza. This variation is pregnant with meaning being perceived as definitive and deliberate to the intention in the poem. This disparity has duly received a lot of critical attention. The lines shift from “could” in the first stanza to “dare” in the last signalling a sense of transgression and disobedience. The tone too shifts from the childish iambic pentameter which is the dominant rhythm in both ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’, to an inconsistent trochaic meter in the ending line. This makes creation an act of audacity, challenge and disobedience.

Check Your Progress - 2

1. The Tyger is a poem which talks of:

a. Human goals

b. Divine virtue

c. Innocence

d. Divine creations

2. The hammer, the chain, the furnace refers to:

a. Icarus

b. Vulcan

c. Satan

d. Jesus Christian

3. A dominant theme of The Tyger is:

a. Innocence and docility

b. Magnanimity

c. Audacity and transgression

d. Beauty and virtue

Critique of Mysticism and Religious Symbolism in "The Tyger" and "The Lamb"

Introduction

William Blake's poems "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" present contrasting perspectives on creation through the lens of mysticism and religious symbolism. While both poems feature the titular animals as central symbols, they evoke distinct notions of divinity, morality, and the nature of existence.

"The Lamb"

Symbolism of Innocence
- "The Lamb" epitomizes childlike innocence and purity, reflecting Blake's Romantic idealization of childhood.
- The poem's simple structure, composed of childlike questions and answers, embodies a sense of clarity and faith in creation.
Religious Symbolism
- The direct association between the lamb and Jesus Christ highlights themes of spiritual purity, meekness, and gentleness.
- Blake uses the lamb as a representation of divine grace, emphasizing the loving and nurturing aspect of God.
Mystical Elements
- The speaker’s childlike perspective reinforces a mystical connection to the divine, positioning the lamb as a symbol of both physical and spiritual sustenance.
- The refrain “Little Lamb, God bless thee” signifies a close relationship between the creator and the created, reflective of Blake's belief in a benevolent, nurturing God.

"The Tyger"

Symbolism of Experience
- In contrast to the lamb, the tiger represents experience, strength, and the ferocity of nature, delving into darker aspects of creation.
- The poem’s intricate structure and rhythmic potency convey a sense of awe and fear, encapsulating the complexity of existence.
Religious Symbolism
- The tiger’s creation is associated with a more fearsome aspect of divinity, invoking questions about the nature of God and the existence of evil.
- The rhetorical question, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” prompts contemplation on the duality of creation—good versus evil, innocence versus ferocity.
Mystical Elements
- The poem alludes to mythological figures like Prometheus, suggesting a link between rebellion and the act of creation.
- Mysticism emerges through the exploration of the unknown—Blake dares to question the understanding of creation and the divine, reflecting the complexities of existence in a world filled with both beauty and terror.

Comparative Analysis

Contrasting Perspectives
- While "The Lamb" promotes a view of a benevolent creator, "The Tyger" elucidates a more complex and fearful understanding of divine creation.
- The duality exemplified through these poems mirrors Blake's overarching theme of dualism, representing the coexistence of joy and suffering in the human experience.
Mysticism
- Both poems incorporate mysticism, but they illustrate different approaches: "The Lamb" fosters a sense of comfort and understanding, while "The Tyger" engages the reader in the mysteries of existence and the nature of divine creation.

Conclusion

Blake's "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" serve as profound explorations of mysticism and religious symbolism, encapsulating the dual facets of creation and divine representation. Through the contrasting symbolism of the lamb and the tiger, Blake invokes a rich tapestry of themes that challenge and invite introspection on the nature of life, creation, and the divine.

What the hammer? What the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? What dread grasp,

Dare it’s deadly terrors clasp?

Explain the imagery of the following lines-

In these lines from Blake's poem "The Tyger," the imagery works on multiple levels, conveying a rich tapestry of meaning associated with creation, power, and the duality of existence.

Hammer: The hammer symbolizes force and creation, equating the act of forging with an aggressive, energetic process. The image of a hammer evokes the strong, decisive blows that shape a creature as formidable as the tiger. It embodies human strength and the direct intervention of a powerful creator in the act of bringing life into existence.
Anvil: Traditionally a surface on which metal is shaped, the anvil represents stability and endurance. It contrasts with the hammer's action, signifying that while creation may involve aggression, it requires a steady foundation. This juxtaposition highlights the balance necessary in creation between chaos and order, further emphasizing the complexity of the universe.
Chain: Chains denote constriction and limitation, suggesting that creation comes with bonds—both literally and metaphorically. This imagery hints at the idea that creation is not purely liberating; it involves attachments and potentially oppressive forces. In the context of the tiger, this could imply that nature's beauty and power also come with inherent dangers and predatory instincts, symbolizing the darker aspects of existence.
Furnace: The furnace brings to mind heat and transformation, an image laden with connotations of destruction and rebirth. It suggests intense, fiery energy that is necessary for crafting something as majestic yet fearsome as the tiger. The furnace signifies the raw materials of creation that must undergo extreme conditions to emerge as something significant and powerful, underscoring the violent nature of the universe and the fierce balance between creation and destruction.
Dread Grasp: This phrase encapsulates feelings of fear and awe, inviting readers to contemplate the risks associated with creation. The 'dread' indicates a recognition of the terror linked to such grandeur; it acknowledges that the power used to create can also instill fear. This aligns with Blake's exploration of duality—the beauty of the tiger is equally matched by its ferocity. The creator displayed here is not just benevolent but is also a force to be reckoned with, possessing the audacity to craft something fearsome and majestic.

Overall, the imagery in these lines crafts a portrayal of creation that is fraught with tension and complexity. Best exemplified by the dynamic interplay between contrasting forces, this imagery highlights Blake's exploration of the dual nature of existence—creation encompasses both gentleness and fear. Through the various tools of creation, Blake invites readers to grapple with the profound mysteries behind life itself, emphasizing the intricate balance of beauty, terror, innocence, and experience within his poetic vision.

In-Depth Comparison of "The Tyger" and "The Lamb"

William Blake's poems "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" serve as profound explorations of creation, existence, and the nature of the divine through their contrasting symbols.

Themes

"The Lamb"
- Symbolism of Innocence: In "The Lamb," the titular animal serves as a potent symbol of innocence and purity, reflecting Blake's Romantic view of childhood. The poem's structure is built on simple, childlike questions that reveal a pure faith in creation and the creator.
- Religious Symbolism: The lamb is closely associated with Jesus Christ, emphasizing themes of spiritual purity, meekness, and grace. This connection elevates the lamb to a representation of divine comfort, signifying a loving and nurturing God that fosters a sense of safety and warmth.
- Mystical Elements: The childlike speaker in "The Lamb" establishes a mystical connection with the divine, where the relationship between the creator and the created is intimate and reassuring. The refrain “Little Lamb, God bless thee” reinforces this sense of a benevolent deity who is deeply involved in the care of His creations.
"The Tyger"
- Symbolism of Experience: Conversely, "The Tyger" embodies experience, strength, and the ferocity of nature. The tiger represents the darker aspects of creation, developing a more complex understanding of existence that explores danger and beauty coexisting within life.
- Religious Symbolism: The creation of the tiger invokes a more fearsome interpretation of divinity, prompting inquiries into the nature of God and the presence of evil in the world. The central question, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” invites reflections on the duality of creation, where innocence and ferocity both emerge from the same creator.
- Mystical Elements: Blake alludes to mythological figures, such as Prometheus, suggesting that the act of creation is intertwined with rebellion and complexity. The poem explores unknown realms and dares to question the understanding of creation, reflecting the intricacies and mysteries inherent in existence.

Structure and Tone

"The Lamb"
- The poem features a simple, rhythmic structure, characterized by repetitive questions and their corresponding answers. This method produces a comforting and clarifying tone that nurtures the child’s innate curiosity.
- "The Lamb" promotes an outlook that believes in a benevolent creator, as well as stability and safety within the cycle of life and creation, underscoring harmony.
"The Tyger"
- In stark contrast, "The Tyger" adopts an intricate and powerful structure, filled with strong, aggressive language that immerses the reader in a sense of awe and fear about creation. The poem's tone oscillates between wonder and dread, reflecting the complexities of existence.
- Blake’s use of rhetorical questions amplifies the tension and ambiguity surrounding the creator's nature, complicating what it means to exist in a world that encompasses both ferocity and beauty.

Conclusion

Collectively, Blake's "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" exemplify the theme of dualism—a key aspect of his work—by juxtaposing innocence with experience and benevolence with ferocity.

"The Lamb" is characterized by its intimate and reassuring tones, advocating for the understanding of a nurturing and loving creator.
In contrast, "The Tyger" engages with the fear and complexity of divine creation, posing profound inquiries about the nature of existence, the fabric of good and evil, and the dual facets present in life itself. Through these contrasting symbols of innocence and experience, Blake invites readers to engage with the intricacies of creation and reflect upon their own understanding of life and the divine.