Sound Devices and The Tyger by William Blake Essay Example

take on an evil persona, leading to the opposite purity and significance of the Lamb.

It is clear that Blake uses couplets to develop a rhyme scheme that distinguishes between good and evil, or in his case, the opposing Tyger and Lamb. The Tyger itself is contrasted through its beautiful colour, striking appearance and savage nature. However, Blake uses Olde English couplets to consistently compare the Tyger as a whole, to the Lamb which is linked to an Holistic approach.

The established yet vast differences between the malicious Tyger and divine Lamb allow one to then question, “What the stars threw down their spears,/ And water’d heaven with their tears,/ Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? ” (17-20, Blake); Meaning how could a Lamb, so pure be made from the very creator [God], that makes Tygers, so violent. In fact, Blake uses couplets so effectively to reflect contrast; he even uses the same verse for both introduction and conclusion verses. The first states, “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright/ In the forests of the night,/ What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry? ”, and the second replaces “Could” with “Dare”, once again contrasting the good and evil that are of the same beginning.

William Blake’s, “The Tyger” is a reflection of human nature and illustrates through imagery and sound devices that the perpetual contrasts of good and evil lead us to question ones’ creator. If God being Sheppard of his Lamb/flock is supposedly an abundance of religious stature; then how is its opposite in nature –a cornucopia of immorality, the Tyger, can

be from one of the same? It is this struggle that allows human nature to exist, a constant battle for balance between good and evil; that is, one needs the other in order to survive.