The Tyger by William Blake

William Blake
The Tyger

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?


And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Comment:



Hello!
First of all, the poem, "The Tyger," was published with William Blake's collection Songs of Experience. This poem is contrasted with his another poem, "The Lamp," which was collected in Songs of Innocence.

The rhyme of this poem has an interesting power which is able to draw people into a realm of the fantasy world. The meter of this poem is mainly trochaic tetrameter; however, at the end of the each trochaic lines Blake uses a catalectic ending. According to Jessica Barnes, "This, along with the insertion of several iambic tetrameter lines, allows every end syllable to be stressed – thus forming a forceful beat to the poem, reminiscent of the tiger’s power. The set beat goes along with the words of the first stanza to create an image of a tiger prowling steadily through the dark forest." The rhyme works as the role them music in a play and create the moods of terror in the forests.

This poem asks a theological question that why a virtuous creator, the God, create a horrific creature, the tiger? It reflects on the reality of the world we are living in. The world contains both beauty and horror, and what kind of a God could create such beautiful world and something so evil and violent at the some time? It is a very profound question to be asked.

The are six stanzas in this poem, and all of which elaborates on this conception, the question about God, the creator. However, the answer of the question is not given throughout the poem. I think the poet wants to leave a room for people to think and seek their best answer by their own imagination and experience in order to fulfill and satisfy various people's craving for knowledge of the creation or the God.

In this poem, there are three vital symbols which are tiger, smithy, and lamb. First, tiger is the most significant symbol in the poem because the representation of the tiger is not only perfectly beautiful but also perfectly destructive. The combination of both beautiful and destructive features is also the core question toward the creator. Second, Blake uses smithy to represent the creation of the natural world. I also think the process of forging is the process of create the tiger. And then, creating the tiger represents the creation of the world. Finally, according to Jessica Barnes, "it both reminds the reader of God, about whom the question is posed, and reminds them that Blake has another poem of a similar nature, “The Lamb,” in which it could be argued that the Lamb is Christ."