Romantic Poetry

The Lamb vs The Tyger: William Blake's Dialectics

In this lecture, we discuss the dialectical negations in Blake's works; Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. In Songs of Innocence, in each poem constructs an ideal that later on he deconstructs and destroys in one of the poems from Songs of Experience. This dialectical construction and negation of poems, where works appear as thesis and antithesis and the reader is left with the job of synthesis, this specific pattern in Blake's poems, specifically included in these two collections, is essential to understand and truly appreciate Blake's art of poetry. We have selected two such poems to discuss today, The Lamb and The Tyger. The Lamb By William Blake Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, …

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