The Tiger and The Lamb by William Blake

Thesis: In the poem The Lamb, the speaker approaches the question of "Dost thou know who made thee?" with a naive sense of certainty however, in the poem The Tiger the speaker humbly challenges this certainty by asking questions about life's origins but offers no definite answers to the questions that he poses.

In the The Lamb the speaker is asking a lamb whether or not he is aware of his creator. The speaker seems to be young and innocent, initiating a conversation between himself and an animal: "Little lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Little lamb, I'll tell thee". The speaker has confidence in his answer and the biblical allusion to the lamb emphasizes the speaker's faith in the christian religion. The speaker poses a simple question to the lamb and confidently answers that question at the end of the poem: "Little lamb, God bless thee, Little lamb God bless thee". The speaker's repetition of the last lines demonstrates the speaker's confidence in his answer. Although the speaker asks this profound metaphysical question his answer is simple and he appears to be quite certain of his assertion that God made the lamb. Although The Tiger and The lamb both present the same question, the speaker's relationship with his creator has seemingly changed as well as the answer to the question.

The speaker in The Tiger asks the same question but in a more sophisticated and mature manner: "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?". The speaker asks the same question but he also poses more questions than who made the tiger, he questions how his creator made the tiger and what methods did he use. There is an apparent skepticism and harshness in the speaker's questions: "And what shoulder and what art, could twist the sinews of thy heart? ..... What the anvil? what dread grasp dare its deadly terrors clasp?" The speaker continuously asks questions throughout the poem yet he does not present any answers the questions that he is asking. The poem ends with the first question that he initially asked which suggests that relationship between the speaker and his creator has changed. The speaker is still questioning at the end and offers to resolution unlike the confident assertion at the end of The Lamb. The speaker is doubting his creator.