19 pages • 38 minutes read
William BlakeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“The Tyger” by William Blake (1794)
Several of Blake’s poems in Songs of Innocence have counterpoint poems in his follow-up collection, Songs of Experience. “The Tyger” is Blake’s dark counterpart to “The Lamb,” focusing on a similar theme of the mystery of creation. However, the divine love of the Creator is absent from “The Tyger,” wherein the Creator wields his “dread” power to craft a creature of “fearful symmetry.” Likewise, the speaker of “The Tyger” views this God not with childlike wonder but with awe and terror. The poems reveal contrasting views of creation, allowing Blake to explore the multiplicity of the natural world through two visionary lenses: utopian and apocalyptic.
“Spring” by William Blake (1789)
“Spring” appears in Blake’s collection Songs of Innocence alongside “The Lamb.” The poem is notable because it is another one of Blake’s pastoral poems, featuring a bucolic setting with images of animals and children celebrating nature’s beauty. Like “The Lamb,” the poem’s speaker is a child, and in the final stanza, this speaker kisses a “Little Lamb,” signaling a romantic, albeit innocent union between the human and animal worlds. The poem thus explores a similar theme to “The Lamb” but through a romantic, as opposed to didactic, lens.
By William Blake
A Poison Tree
A Poison Tree
William Blake
Auguries of Innocence
Auguries of Innocence
William Blake
London
London
William Blake
Night
Night
William Blake
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake
The Book of Thel
The Book of Thel
William Blake
The Chimney Sweeper
The Chimney Sweeper
William Blake
The Garden of Love
The Garden of Love
William Blake
The Little Boy Found
The Little Boy Found
William Blake
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake
The Sick Rose
The Sick Rose
William Blake
The Tyger
The Tyger
William Blake