"The Tyger", by William Blake, 1/12/12

“The Tyger”, by William Blake

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 sieze 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?

REACTION

This poem is somewhat ominous and invokes a little fear. As in Blake’s “The Lamb” the narrator asks tons of questions. The imagery in this poem is outstanding and makes the reader truly feel as though they are looking at a tiger and seeing its burning eyes in the night. The poem in itself asks a very important philosophical question that many people even today struggle with.

PARAPHRASE

Who created you, what kind of divine being could have created you? Where could your fiery eyes have come from in this universe? Who would dare to take this much fire and put it in your eyes? What sort of being or craftsmanship would have been required to make your heart this way? What dreaded person would continue once that dark heart began to beat? What blacksmith would have created you and what tools would be necessary? Once the tiger was created how must the creator have felt? Did he smile when he thought of his work? Could this possibly be the same being who created the lamb?

SWIFTT:

Syntax/Word Choice- Blake uses very descriptive words throughout the poem. He also uses tons of questions marks throughout the poem. Blake also intentionally starts the poem with an exclamation in order to show the fear the narrator sees. The narrator also spells the word tiger as tyger in order to show that it is not a real tiger.

Imagery- Blake uses the image of the tiger “burning” to convey the way the tiger appears to the author. The author uses the phrase “fearful symmetry” to convey that the tiger has a look about him that invokes fear. The eyes of the tiger are then described as “fiery” which allows the reader to envision reddish-orange eyes staring back at themselves. All of this imagery is used to convey how scary, fierce and demonic the tiger appears.

Figurative Language- There are not similes in this poem by William Blake. The poem is however, like “The Lamb”, representing the tiger as a demonic figure.  

Tone- The tone of this poem is fearful and menacing. The poem starts off with the narrator exclaiming that a tiger is near. The narrator continues on in the poem to stress that he is scared of the tiger’s fiery eyes. The tone is also menacing, due to the way in which the tiger is described.

Theme- The theme of this poem is the philosophical question of “can the creator of good also be the creator of evil?” At the start of the poem, and for most of the duration of the poem, the narrator talks about how evil the poem is. Finally, at the end of the poem the is a question is stressed when the author asks “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

CONCLUSION

My initial response to this poem was not far off from the truth. The poem is ominous and invokes fear. The narrator asks tons of questions as in Blake’s “The Lamb”. Blake uses an outstanding imagery and makes the reader truly feel as though they are looking at a tiger. The imagery is so vivid that the read can see its burning eyes in the night. The poem in itself asks a very important philosophical question that many people even today struggle with.