The Lamb Essay, Research Paper
WILLIAM BLAKE
William Blake was born on 1757. He grew up in the middle of London.
Since Blake lived in a bad part of the neighborhood, he was poorly educated.
Around the age of ten his father had enough money to send him to drawing school
and then at fourteen he became an engraver. Blake realized that he was not any
good at being artistic. Starting in 1778 Blake began making a living by giving
booksellers and publishers with copperphte engravings. In Blake s later years he
began to write The Gates of Paradise, and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. As
he grew older, he became more involved in his religion. William published The
Lamb, The Tiger, and The Sick Rose toward the end of his life. William Blake uses
symbolism in The Lamb, The Tiger, and The Sick Rose.
In the poem called The Lamb, the lamb symbolizes innocence. The lamb
also symbolizes the forgiveness of sin. The lamb is like a little innocent child. The
creator is shy and mild in his ways, which makes him seem like a little child. So the
creator symbolizes the innocent lamb. Which means the creator is actually like the
lamb. The creator wants to be like the lamb in one way or the other.
In the poem called The Tiger, the tiger symbolizes the wrath of God. The
tiger also symbolizes punishment of sin. The tiger is evil, deceiving, and conniving
but the tiger is very experienced. Experience is one of the traits that helps the tiger
with all of his bad traits. The tiger is the evil of what the creator makes. The tiger
is very experienced but in the wrong way. It is experience in the wrong way
because it uses it s experience for evil things. The image of the tiger is very
frightful and not pleasant. The tiger is very cruel in one way or the other and does
not care too much about other things or other people.
In the poem The Sick Rose, the rose symbolizes experience. The invisible
worm symbolizes the sadness. The sadness like a disease in the rose, that spreads
through like a sickness. The sadness is like a broken heart except ten times as
worse.
In the first stanza of The Lamb William Blake questions the lamb. William
Blake asks the lamb who created him. Little lamb who made thee?/Doust thou
know who made thee? (1-2). Blake goes on to ask the lamb who gave him food,
shelter and clothing. Gave thee life and bid thee feed,/ By the stream and o er the
mead;/ Gave thee clothing of delight,/softest clothing wooly bright; (3-6). William
Blake is just asking the lamb if it knows who gave him everything he needs. He
wants to know who provided him with the nessities of life. Towards the end of the
stanza the maker asks Little lamb who made thee?/Dost thou know who made
thee? (9-10). William Blake is just asking if the lamb knows who created this
creature.
In the second stanza William Blake answers the question that was asked in
the first stanza. William Blake says that he is going to tell the lamb who made him.
Little lamb I ll tell thee/ Little lamb I ll tell thee. (11-12). Blake says that the
maker is like a lamb. Even though the creator is all powerful Blake calls the creator
a lamb because he is timid and easy going. The lamb is shy and tame just like a
child. Therefore the creator is a like a child.
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, (15-17).
The last two lines Little lamb God bless thee./Little lamb God bless thee. (19-20).
These two lines are saying the creator is blessing the lamb. The creator wants to
ensure everything will be all right for the lamb. And that the lamb will beable to live
a full life.
In the beginning of The Tiger the tiger is against God. Since the tiger is
against God, the tiger is the opposite of the lamb. The tiger is the opposite of love,
it symbolizes evil. Tiger! Tiger! burning bright/In the forests of the night, (1-2).
Blake then asks who made the tiger. What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy
fearful symmetry? (3-4). Blake also wonders how the tiger was made and who
made it. Blake asks how could someone make such a creature and why would they
even considering doing so. What the hammer? what the chain?/In what furnace
was thy brain? (13-14). Blake says that the tiger symbolizes evil in the eyes of
God. Since the tiger symbolizes evil all of the people are afraid of the tiger and did
not want to be around it. Dare its deadly terrors clasps? (16). If God made the
lamb did he make the tiger. How could God of made the tiger because the tiger and
the lamb are the opposites. The tiger is evil and the lamb is so innocent, how could
one man do such a thing. Did he who made the Lamb make thee? (20).
In The Sick Rose Blake made the poem so it seemed like the rose and the
invisible worm were acting out a part or a play. In this poem, it begins with the rose
becoming sick and ill. O Rose, thou art sick. (1). The poem then talks about
how the invisible worm found out the roses happiness. Now that the worm has
found out the roses happiness he decides to ruin it and take it all away from the
rose. Has found out thy bed/Of crimson joy, (5-6). The last two lines says, since
the invisible worm found the roses happiness he destroys it. Since the invisible
worm killed the roses happiness he also killed the rose itself. And his dark secret
love/Does they life destroy. (7-8).
In conclusion, William Blake uses symbolism in The Lamb, The tiger, and
The Sick Rose. In The Lamb, the lamb symbolizes purity and innocence. The
creator is believed to be a lot like the lamb in one way or the other. The creator is
said to be shy and mild just like a child. In The Tiger, the tiger is said to be the
opposite of the lamb. The tiger is made out to be the evil and the lamb is made out
to be the innocence. The tiger is not only the evil but it is the wrath of God and the
punishment of sin. Experience helps the tiger to become more evil and deceiving
than others. In The Sick Rose, the rose symbolizes experience. The invisible worm
symbolizes the sickness inside of the rose. It says that the sickness is like a
sadness, that will never leave. The rose is sick because of the invisible worm and at
the end the rose dies.
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