Blake’s The Little Girl Found and The Little Girl Lost: Analysis and Comparison

Introduction

“The Little Girl Lost” and “The Little Girl Found” are poems written by William Blake. Together with “The Angel,” “The Fly,” and other Blake’s poems, they were published in “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” in 1794. The two poems are about a little girl called Lyca, who is lost in the jungle, and her parents who search for their daughter. This paper aims to make an analysis of “The Little Girl Lost” and “The Little Girl Found”.

The Little Girl Lost: Summary and Analysis

The poem “The Little Girl Lost” by William Blake tells the story of a young girl who finds herself wandering into the jungle where she is lost. She is later picked up by a lion who ends up taking good care of her and at the same time, protecting her from all the other animals of the forest. In summary, The Little Girl Lost illustrates a period of transformation from innocent childhood to the complicated ways of adulthood.

The lion in the poem represents the evil people in the world. At the end of the poem, Lyca, the little girl, and the lion are involved in an unlikely association. That is symbolic. It is generally the case when children grow older, and they begin to realize that there is a much bigger world outside what their parents have introduced them.

At seven years old, Lyca is technically years away from her teenage, but we can conclude that Blake used the figure to represent the youth. Lyca’s parents suffer because of her disappearance. That can mean that a teenage girl may be involved with the wrong company to inflict pain on her parents.

The lion is described as old, and he is tempted to devour the little girl, but after a few licks, he opts not to. This symbolism probably represents an older man who would like to take advantage of the rebellious young girl but cannot bring himself to do so. Instead, he ends up acting like a father-figure and protects the young girl from other men (leopards, tigers) with equally evil motives.

The Little Girl Found: Analysis and Summary

The poem “A Little Girl Found” is a sequel to “The Little Girl Lost”. William Blake tells there the story of Lyca’s dejected parents as they struggle to find her. Eventually, they spot the lion under whose care Lyca is. The sight of the lion instills fear into them, and they stand motionless as he (the lion) approaches.

However, Lyca’s parents are surprised when, instead of attacking them, the lion licks their hands in a friendly manner. It gestures them to follow him to his cave. There they find little Lyca lying peacefully. The lion, in this instance, represents a guardian angel. His care of the little girl means that in this world, no matter how challenging things may be, there are some good people ready to give a helping hand.

Blake also used the lion to show that sometimes, the people we would like to avoid are probably best suited to give us the help we need along the way.

At the end of the poem, Lyca and her parents choose to live in the wilderness, and this illustrates the developing bonds of faith between individuals who would naturally not trust each other. By the lion taking good care of Lyca instead of taking advantage of her, he can establish his trustworthiness in the eyes of Lyca’s parents, and this could be the prime motivator why they choose to stay.

It is almost as if the girl’s parents have concluded that the people who are thought to be most untrustworthy are the ones who end up being loyal and honest. It could be that in the place where Lyca and her parents stayed, there were some people looking innocent on the outside but turned out to have ulterior motives. That affirms the saying that it is better the devil you know than the angel you don’t.

Comparison and Discussion

The two poems, that is, The Little Girl Lost and The Little Girl Found, are essentially two parts of one story, with the latter being a continuation of the former. The first poem brings the reader from the point where little Lyca finds herself lost in the jungle to the point where she is taken by a lion (in all its symbolic forms explained above) who ends up being her sole protection. The second text traces the journey of Lyca’s parents, who have to go through all sorts of challenges in their quest to find their daughter.

The story intersects with the final part of the first poem when the parents meet with the lion, who shows them to his cave where the little girl sleeps peacefully. The two texts employ a lot of symbolism and imagery, as has been detailed above. Unfortunately, the use of one thing to represent another has ended up causing the poem to be taken with a lot of contention.

That is because, in as much as the stylistic device gives the story more gist, to some extent, readers cannot squarely identify the author’s original implication in the usage of a particular symbolic item. Readers have to come up with various interpretations of the two poems based on their understanding. As long as they can defend their interpretations, even the author could not raise a dispute.

Another stylistic device that has been used exhaustively in the two poems is rhyme. For instance, in the first stanza of the poem The little girl lost; the lines “shall arise and seek” and “for her maker meek” have been rhymed at the ends. Likewise, in the poem The little girl found the opening lines “all the night in woe” and “Lyca’s parents go” rhyme. As a matter of fact, every two lines of both poems are rhymed together.

Now let’s make some brief content analysis. “The Little Girl Found” and “The Little Girl Lost” share two main themes. These are domestic quarrels between parents and rebellious children and proper human relations within society. The first them has been presented with Lyca’s disappearance from her parents’ company and her parents’ struggle to find her.

The second theme has been illustrated from the angle of Lyca’s association with the lion as well as by her parents coming to an amicable understanding with the same lion to such an extent that they chose to stay in his company henceforth. A supporting theme illustrates the relationship between men and women in society, with the latter depending on the former for security.

This is presented in the way Lyca’s mother clings to her husband’s arm when the lion makes towards them. It is most likely that the man was also scared of the impending danger but gathered courage and stood there acting macho-like in defense of his wife. Lucky for him, the lion happened to be friendly.

Conclusion

This paper is a case study on The Little Girl Lost and The Little Girl Found by W. Blake. Both of the poems are essentially two parts of one story, with the latter being a continuation of the former. The poems tell about a little girl lost in the jungle and her parents who search for her. This paper contains a comparative analysis of “The Little Girl Lost” and “The Little Girl Found.”