Attitudes Towards God In William Blake's The Tyger And The Lamb

Life is sweet, but life is hard. In “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” by William Blake, the speaker expresses a conflicted attitude towards God and the two poems differ in their tone towards God and all of his creations. The speaker, a follower of the christian faith, creates a powerful tone through the use of diction, imagery, and repetition in “The Tyger” and “The Lamb.” Both poems have conflicting attitudes toward God, for “The Lamb” creates a confident and passionate tone while “The Tyger” establishes a fearful and serious tone. Although “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” present different attitudes toward God, both poems share similarities through the use of their literary devices and presentations of questions about the creator. Both poems address …show more content…
The speaker repeats lines “what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry” in two key points throughout the poem: the beginning and the end ( 1-4 and 21-24). Likewise, for a more in depth tone, Blake effectively includes imagery of destruction when saying, “what the hand dare seize the fire” (8) and “twist the sinews of thy heart” (10). Similarly, the imagery of a hell-like setting with a “furnace” and “deadly terrors” allows the reader to see a clear picture of God’s destructive work. In addition to imagery and repetition, Blake’s adverse diction helps develop the fearful tone by questioning “what the anvil? What dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp” (15-16). The repetition at the beginning and end of the poem allows the reader to establish a tone that is intended to stick and produce meaning throughout the poem. In the same way, Blake uses imagery to add a sense of carnage throughout the poem and the diction adds a more in depth attitude, for the use of these literary devices builds up the serious and sobering tone towards God as the creator of the