00237--‘If the lamb is the aspect of God visible to innocence, the tiger is the face of God visible to experience’—Explain. [The Little Lamb / The Tiger /William Blake] [English Literature free notes]

     

[Also spelt The Tyger]

William Blake wrote two companion poems The Little Lamb and The Tiger, in which poems he gives expression to his awe and wonder at the creations of Nature.  The Lamb belongs to Songs of Innocence and The Tiger comes from The Songs of Experience. The two poems highlight the two different paradoxical aspects of creation.
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            In the hands of the poet, both the lamb and the tiger become powerful symbols.  The Lamb is a symbol of the innocence, simplicity and gentle beauty of creation.  The Tiger on the other hand, is seen as a symbol of the cruelty, ferocity, terrible beauty and beastical power and energy of Nature.

            Looking at the terrible form of the tiger burning bright in the forests of darkness, the poet is filled with wonder and awe.  He asks who made this fearful symmetry of the creature.

            From the creation, he goes to the creator.  Form where did the creator get the fire that burns in the eyes of the Tier.  From the unfathomable depths of the universe or in the far reaches of space?  The poet has no answer.  He is bewildered.

            How was the beast's heart formed?  Who breathed life into him?  The poet pictures the creator as a great smith at work in his smithy.  What kind of a hammer and chain did he use and what anvil did he forget the terrible form of the Tiger.  When the work is finished and the stars look down did the creator smile at his own stupendous achievement.  The poet evokes cosmic pity and wonder again.  Can the creator who made the gentle meek lamb make the terrible tiger?  He feels baffled at the mysterious paradox of the creator and his art.
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            The dual nature of God and his creation is brought out here.  The lamb stands for the benevolent aspect of Nature.  It is small, gentle, meek innocent and helpless.  The child naturally loves it because it is like him closer to Nature and God.  There is no sense of awe here. 

            The tiger stands for the terrible strength and cruel aspect of nature.  It symbolises the malevolent forces of the universe, always ferocious, cruel, and hostile and destructive why should the creator labour hard to create such a beast.  The poet is baffled pondering the process of creation.  It is the face of experience that is shown here.  No matter how hard you try to understand it eludes your grasp.  Questions are asked one after the other but there is ot answer.  At the end the poet stands awe struck and baffled.

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00598--What is the difference between Metaphor and Simile?

What is the difference between Metaphor and Simile?

METAPHOR	SIMILE
Metaphor  is the most important and widespread figure of speech, in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two.	Simile is an explicit comparison between two different things, actions, or feelings, using the words 'as' or 'like'.
Eg. He is a lion	Eg. I wandered lonely as a cloud
In metaphor, the resemblance is assumed as an imaginary identity rather than directly stated as a comparison: referring to a man as that pig, or saying he is a pig is metaphorical, whereas he is like a pig is a simile. Metaphors may also appear as verbs (a talent may blossom) or as adjectives (a novice may be green), or in longer idiomatic phrases, e.g. to throw the baby out with the bath-water.	A simple example is Robert Burns, "O my love's like a red, red rose." The following simile from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" also specifies the feature ("green") in which icebergs are similar to emerald: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald.
Reference: 1. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms                               2. A Glossary of Literary Terms [M.H.Abrams]