A Poison Tree

"The Tyger" by William Blake (1794)

William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” was published in the same volume of collected poetry as “A Poison Tree,” Songs of Experience. The religious allusions and themes present in “A Poison Tree” are likewise apparent in “The Tyger,” as the speaker in the latter questions the nature of a God capable of creating, on the one hand, a beast as vicious as a tiger, and on the other, a creature as innocent as a lamb. “The Tyger” shares other features with “A Poison Tree,” such as its couplet and four-line stanzaic structure and usage of light/dark motifs. Both hint at a more nefarious trait present within nature.

"The Lamb" by William Blake (1789)

Anyone studying works from Blake’s Songs of Experience collection would do well to familiarize themselves with selections from the Songs of Innocence volume, as these are directly paired and contrast one another. They both highlight two differing worldviews and perspectives on humanity, nature, and religion. In “The Lamb”—a contrasting piece to “The Tyger”—Blake uses innocent, childlike, and bucolic imagery to paint an image of a God who is relatable, loving, and approachable.

"We Are Seven" by William Wordsworth (1798)

William Wordsworth is also known as one of the premier poets of the Romantic period. His work features some of the same characteristics of other writers of this time, including a focus on nature and on human emotions. This particular poem features a darker, more somber view of life, as in Blake’s “A Poison Tree.” In the poem, Wordsworth’s speaker converses with a young girl about how many siblings she has, and debates with her how she can have seven siblings when two are dead. While the poem highlights the loss of innocence all humans experience and the fragility and pain of existence, it counterbalances this with a pure, childlike view of death. Death, the young girl maintains, is not the end.