Coexistence of Contrary States in Blake’s The Tyger Essay -- Blake Tyg

Coexistence of Contrary States in Blakes The TygerSince the two hundred years that William Blake has composed his seminal poetry The Tyger, critics and readers alike have attempted to interpret its burning question - Did he who made the lamb make thee? Perhaps best embodying the spirit of Blakes Songs of Experience, the tiger is the poetic counterpart to the Lamb of Innocence from Blakes anterior work, Songs of Innocence. Manifest in The Tyger is the key to understanding its identity and mans conception of God, while ultimately serving to confront the reader with a powerful source of sublimity which reveals insight on Blakes ideal due north and coexistence of the two contrary states. The most significant underlying ideology of William Blakes poetry is his essential psychomachia - the contrary states, as Blake himself calls them. The work in which The Tyger and The Lamb appear distinctly states Blakes purpose in a antecede Shewing the two contrary states of the human soul. In The Lamb, a basic question and an answer are given. The poem is a catechism (Miner 62). The simplistic and comfy resolution purposely has no doubt or ambiguity border its initial message of love, tranquility, Jesus Christ, and above all, innocence. The speaker sees God in terms he can understand - gentle and kind and very(prenominal) much like us (Reinhart 25). A tremendous void is understandably apparent. The poems straightforwardness leaves the reader with a discomforting feeling of the contend for a more sophisticated perspective on the relationship amid maker and humanity. This instinctual need for a contrary state gives birth to the tiger. The tigers imagery is astonishingly vivid. The beast burning bright with flaming indicates ... ...d the Age of Revolution. New York Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965. Erdman, David V. Blake The Historical Approach. William Blake. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. Miner, Paul. The Tyger propagation & Evolution in th e Poetry of William Blake. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Jane Kelly Kosek. Vol. 12. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1995. 59-64. Natoli, Joseph. William Blake. notable Poets. Ed. G.E. Bentley. New York Gale Research Inc., 1995. 79-95. Paley, Morton. Tyger of Wrath. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Ed. Morton D. Paley. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969. 68-92 Raine, Kathleen. William Blake. London Longmans, squirt and Co. Ltd., 1969. Reinhart, Charles. William Blake. DLB. Ed. John R. Greenfield. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1990. Vol. 93. 23-25.