The Lamb & the Tiger

The 2 poems The Lamb and The Tyger seem to have lots of contrasts, yet they contain many similarities. To begin with, both poems clearly showed William's strong beliefs in Gods. In addition, the tiger and the lamb not only symbolize and contain many extraordinary characteristics of God, but also appeared as the proportional reflections of their creator's beauties and powers. For instance, the lambs represent kindness, they are pure and mild, while the tigers are firm and powerful, just like God, he's nice and gentle but is frightening. Equally important, the both of the poems in some parts tried to emphasize the author's awe and admiration toward the creator and his stunning creations. To be more specific, in The Lamb, the author stated the joys & the charms that the lambs possessed such as soft clothing, woolly covered body. In The Tyger, his awe exposed through the repeated lines "What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" Furthermore, in both poems, the animals were described in details with complimentary words highlighting the gifted remarks. Not to mention, many figurative devices were used in both poems, such as imagery, rhythm, rhymes, metaphor.

As mentioned, contrasts were loaded between the poems. Initially, each of the two animals symbolized different things. The lamb symbolized gentleness, innocent and delightful, as they are harmless and vulnerable. But when it comes to tigers, people are horrified and fearful, because the tiger is fierce, frightening and is dominant. Also, the landscape and the atmosphere where the animals live are different. The harmless lamb is feeding "by the stream and over the mead" - a very calm & peaceful landscape, in contrast, the tiger is "burning bright in the forests of the night", indicated the place is dangerous and unpredictable. Moreover, poem The Lamb was written in a childlike language, where the author looked at the lamb and the world through an innocent child's vision. On the contrary, The Tyger was written in the perspective of an experienced person, using more mature & descriptive language. Last but not least, the mood of The Lamb was tender and delightful, while The Tyger gave the readers the feeling of risks and intensity.