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 poem The Tyger, critics and readers alike have attempt 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 previous work, Songs of Innocence. Manifest in The Tyger is the key to understanding its identity and mans conception of God, while ultimately serving to live the reader with a powerful source of sublimity which reveals insight on Blakes ideal union and coexistence of the two opposed 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 inaugurate Shewing the two contrary states of the human soul. In The Lamb, a ba sic question and an answer are given. The poem is a catechism (Miner 62). The simplistic and comfortable gag rule purposely has no doubt or ambiguity surrounding 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 much like us (Reinhart 25). A tremendous void is clearly apparent. The poems singleness leaves the reader with a discomforting feeling of the need for a more sophisticated perspective on the relationship between 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 fire indicates ... ...d the Age of Revolution. sweet 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 Genesis & Evolution in the Poetry of William Blake. Rpt. in Poetr y 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. capital of the United Kingdom Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1969. Reinhart, Charles. William Blake. DLB. Ed. John R. Greenfield. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1990. Vol. 93. 23-25.