On Blake

Reading William Blake's The Tyger and The Lamb in class was really enjoyable. The antithesis between the two were absolutely great. Even the color of the two pieces that accompany the poems exemplify the large difference between the two. The Tyger's main colors are a deep orange with highlights of black. The Lamb's colors are blue and yellow, which are psychologically calming colors to go with the peaceful nature of the poem.

It was also enjoyable to discover that they were printed next to each other in the original publication. I am curious to know what order though, because The Lamb seemed to be from the innocent perspective of a child, where as The Tyger is seems as though it is written by an adult that is questioning the world through examining the nature of evil. If The Lamb poem were to go first it would make sense, since it could be seen as a chronological progression of faith. With this mindset, the child would be in the state presented in the poem, one that is only seeing God as good and there being nothing wrong with the world. The child would then grow older and would begin to ask the bigger questions such as why evil exists, and how this benevolent God could create such a terrifying creature as the tiger. However, if these poems were published in the reverse order, it wouldn't present as clearly. There would be a very jarring shift from darkness back to innocence. Either way, Blake could be creating a very purposeful reaction by juxtaposing these poems, I would just like to know which.