"The girl, Lyca, without guide or protector, successfully undergoes the experience of sexual maturation, despite her parents' fears; and then serves as a model to rid them of their own sexual guilt, and to introduce them to a state of innocence that they had never before experienced." An important part to this interpretation is the question of how old Lyca really is. Connolly points out lines 13–14 in reference to Lyca's age, "Seven summers old/ Lovely Lyca told." Connolly brings to our attention that while it could simply mean that Lyca is seven, it could also mean seven summers have passed since she hit puberty. If that was the case then Lyca would be at the same age as the woman depicted in the plate. References Works Cited Baine, Rodney M., and Mary R. Baine. "Blake's Other Tigers, and "the Tyger"." SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 15.4, Nineteenth Century (1975): 563-78. Web. Connolly, Thomas E. "'Little Girl Lost' 'Little Girl found': Blake's Reversal of the Innocence-Experience Pattern." College Literature 16.2 (1989): 148-66. Web. Lindop, Grevel. "Blake: 'the Little Girl Lost' and 'the Little Girl found'." Critical Survey 6.1/2 (1973): 36–40. Web. External links Interpretations at the site of the English Department University of Georgia 1794 poems Songs of Innocence and of Experience