Songs of Innocence and Experience In Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake, the gentle lamb and the terrible tiger define childhood by placing a contrast between the innocence of youth and the experience of age. The Lamb is written with childlike repetition and a selection of words that would please any audience under the age of five. Blake applies the lamb as a representation of youthful immaculateness. The Tiger has harsh traits compared to the Lamb, regarding word choice and portrayal. The Tyger is a poem in which the author asks many questions, almost like a song in their reiterations. The question is: could the same creator have created both the tiger and the lamb? For William Blake, the answer is frightening. The Romantic period's affinity with childhood is epitomized in the poetry of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. “Little Lamb who made you/ You know who made you (Blake 1-2).” The introductory lines of the Lamb set the style for what follows: an innocent poem about a lovable lamb and its creator. It is divided into two stanzas, the first containing questions as to who it was who created such a docile creature with "dresses of joy (Blake 6)". There are images of the lamb frolicking in divine meadows and babbling streams. The verse ends with the same question it began with. The second stanza begins with the author claiming to know the creator of the lamb and proclaiming that he will tell him. Blake then states that the creator of the lamb is no different from the lamb itself. Jesus Christ is often described as a lamb and Blake uses lines such as "he is gentle and he is gentle (Blake 15)" to achieve this. Blake then clarifies that the poem's point of view is that of a child, when he says "I a child and you a lamb (Blake 17)." The poem speaks of a child's curiosity, pristine conception of creation, and love for all heavenly things. The almost polar opposite of the Lamb is The Tyger. It's the difference between a feel-good minister who gets hot and fuzzy about Jesus, and a fiery evangelist preaching a hellfire sermon. Instead of the innocent lamb we now have the fearful tiger – the red tooth and claw emblem of nature – who embodies the experience. William Blake's words went from heavenly to hellish in the transition from lamb to tiger.