Step 1: Review the following two poems by William Blake: “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”. Write a two page APA formatted paper responding to the questions associated with each poem. Use appropriate APA headings. Title and reference pages not included in page count.
“The Lamb”
This poem is from Blake’s Songs of Innocence. Describe its tone. How do the meter, rhyme, and repetition help to characterize the speaker’s voice?
Why is it significant that the animal addressed by the speaker is a lamb? What symbolic value would be lost if the animal were, for example, a doe?
How does the second stanza answer the question raised in the first? What is the speaker’s view of the creation?
“The Tyger”
This poem from Blake’s Songs of Experience is often paired with “The Lamb.” Describe the poem’s tone. Is the speaker’s voice the same here as in “The Lamb”? Which words are repeated, and how do they contribute to the tone?
What is revealed about the nature of the tiger by the words used to describe its creation? What do you think the tiger symbolizes?
Unlike in “The Lamb,” more than one question is raised in “The Tyger.” What are these questions? Are they answered?
Compare the rhythms in “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” Each basically uses a seven-syllable line, but the effects are very different. Why?
Using these two poems as the basis of your discussion, describe what distinguishes innocence from experience (Meyer & Miller, 2020, p. 668).
