Coexistence of Contrary States in Blake's The Tyger In the two hundred years since William Blake composed his seminal poem "The Tyger", critics and readers have attempted to interpret his burning question – “Did he who created the Lamb create you?” Perhaps best embodying the spirit of Blake's Songs of Experience, the tiger is the poetic counterpart to the Lamb of Innocence from Blake's earlier work, Songs of Innocence. The manifesto in "The Tyger" is the key to understanding his identity and man's conception of God, while ultimately serving to confront the reader with a powerful source of sublimity that reveals insight into Blake's ideal union and the coexistence of the two contrary states. The ideology underlying William Blake's poetry is his essential psychomachia - the "contrary states", as Blake himself calls them. The work in which "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" appear clearly states Blake's aim in a preface: "To show the two contrary states of the human soul." In “The Lamb,” a fundamental question and answer is given. The poem is a catechism (Miner 62). The simplistic and comfortable resolution intentionally contains no doubt or ambiguity around its initial message of love, tranquility, Jesus Christ and, above all, innocence. The speaker sees God in terms he can understand – gentle and kind and very much like us (Reinhart 25). An immense void clearly appears. The simplicity of the poem leaves the reader with an uncomfortable feeling of the need for a more sophisticated perspective on the relationship between the creator and humanity. This instinctive need for a contrary state gives birth to the tiger. The tiger imagery is surprisingly vivid. The "burning" beast with "fire" indicates...... middle of paper......d the Revolution era. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965.Erdman, David V. “Blake: The Historical Approach.” William Blake. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. Miner, Paul. "'The Tyger': Genesis and Evolution in the Poetry of William Blake." Rep. in poetic criticism. Ed. Jane Kelly Kosek. Flight. 12. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1995. 59-64. Natoli, Joseph. “William Blake.” Notable poets. Ed. GE Bentley. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1995. 79-95. Paley, Morton. “The Tiger of Anger.” Twentieth-century interpretations of songs of innocence and experience. Ed. Morton D. Paley. Cliffs of Englewood: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969. 68-92 Raine, Kathleen. William Blake. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1969. Reinhart, Charles. “William Blake.” DLB. Ed. John R. Greenfield. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. Vol... 93. 23-25.