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Directions: Write an essay of 5 pages containing the following elements:
--Introductory paragraph (or two)
--Thesis statement
--Supporting paragraphs (as many as it takes; preferably 4-6) with topic sentences and supporting evidence based on your chosen stories, quoting using the MLA format (see Perrine’s Writing About Literature section, pp. 1-56).
--Concluding paragraph restating the thesis and adding some profound, thoughtful final idea.
Prompts for this assignment.
Describe and account for the differences in tone between Blake's "The Lamb" and "The Tiger"
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The Tome in “The Lamb” and “The Tiger”
William Blake’s “The Lamb” and “The Tiger” are two great works of literature that are
used today to study the Romantic Movement and spirituality. The two poems, although they are
complementary, present glaring differences in the tone and the language patterns employed.
Understanding the differences in tone and the imagery used needs for one to understand the
foundation of the poems before going ahead to analyze the tones. The background information
on the poems can be based mostly on the author and the background of the works he presented
alongside the two poems. First, William Blake was a British poet who lived from 1757 to 1827.
This period marked the beginning of the Romantic Movement which was mostly characterized
by the expression of human spiritualism and its connection to nature. Therefore, the placing of
the author at that period in history partly explains the themes of the poems.
The two poems are both based on spiritualism and creation in particular. Several themes
emerge in the poem but one of the most dominant is the theme of creation and contrast in the
creatures of the world. Also, this difference is seen in the volumes of books that the poems were
published in. “The Lamb” was published in the Songs of Innocence (1789) while “The Tiger”
was published later in 1794 in the Songs of Experience. These two volumes draw a clear line of
difference in the poems in that in the first poem; it is expected that the writer wrote from the
point of innocence while the second displays experience. Therefore, while viewing the tone, one
has to view the poems from the intentions of the author as a better way of understanding them.
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William Blake’s “The Lamb” shows simplicity in the sentence structure and the tone used is that
of innocence and naivety while “The Tiger” adopts a complicated sentence structure and portrays
maturity in the exploration of nature.
The tones of the two poems are first noted in the opening lines of the two poems thus
sending a message from the start. The first poem shows the tone of innocence and naivety in the
way the child addresses the lamb. The first sentence is “Little lamb, Who make thee” (Blake 120
Line 1). The approach here already shows pity, humility, and meekness in the lamb which is
addressed by the speaker. Therefore, the author aims to show from the word go that the lamb is
harmless and adorable. On the other hand, the second poem starts with strong regard for the
appearance of the tiger. Blake starts his poem with the line “Tiger, tiger, burning bright” (Blake
130 Line 1). A one on one comparison of the opening lines of both poems shows that while in
the first one the author admires the innocence and meekness of the lamb, the tiger is admired and
feared at the same time because it burns bright. Therefore, the tone of danger and strength is set
in the second poem. It is, therefore, evident that the opening lines of both poems are set to send
the message early enough for the reader to understand the difference between the two creatures.
In “The Lamb,” the author adopts simplicity in the way the speaker speaks while “The
Tiger” shows sophistication in the use of the rhetorical question as a device to show maturity in
the speaker. In the former, the speaker, who is later revealed to be a child, is speaking to the
lamb and asking it whether it knows who made it: “Little lamb, who made thee, Dost thou know
who made thee " (Blake 120 Lines 1-2). The simplicity of the language shows that it is indeed a
child who speaks because it shows naivety. Further, the structure uses repetition in the first and
second couplets of each stanza. This device makes the poem have a child song rhythmic pattern.
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On the other hand, the tone of “The Tiger” and the choice of words show maturity and
thus enhance the message being passed. The rhetorical question device is especially seen as
bringing out the maturity. For instance, the author writes: “What immortal hand or eye could
frame thy fearful symmetry” (Blake 129 Lines 3-4). The tone here ...