The Tyger (W. Blake)

Linda Arellano

Srygley, Cheryl

AP Literature and Composition

12 January 2012

The Tyger

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 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?

1. First impression: The poem begins with a repeated exclamation “Tyger!” which makes emphasis on the poem’s title. The first stanza concludes with a rhetorical question in which the author expresses fear of such creature. He questions why would such creature be created and if so, what was the Almighty creator thinking when he did. Was he pleased to see the deathly machine he had created? Throughout the poem the author uses a very heated, fire-filled scene. The author clearly expresses his fear as well as a meditation on whether the creator of a creature as peaceful and pure as the lamb had also created the opposite. The poem refers to fire and heat in several occasions throughout the piece.

2. Paraphrase:

a. Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

b. in the immense night

c. what godly creature

d. could have created such shape

e. in what distance

f. burns the fire of your eyes?

g. How was he inspired?

h. What challenge would capture the fire?

i. And what shoulder, and what art

j. Could twist the muscles of your heart

k. And when your heart began to beat

l. What fearful claws? And what fearful feet?

m. What hammer? What chain?

n. What hell is your brain?

o. What steel? What deadly grasp

p. dare its death entrap

q. when the stars threw spears

r. and showered the heavens with their tears

s. Was He pleased with his creation?

t. Did the same one who created the Lamb, create the tiger?

u. Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

v. in the immense night

w. what godly creature

x. could have created such shape

3. Syntax/Word Choice: The poem’s structure is divided into 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The poem begins and concludes with the same stanza therefore repetition occurs. The poem contains a large amount of rhetorical questions; “On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire?” nevertheless The author’s rhetorical questions follow no specific pattern. The poem contains a slight variation in rhyme scheme: aabc, aabb, aabb, aabb, aabb, aabc. The choppy questions function to build the author’s thought process, one question speeding right after the other, creating the feeling of fear and the million things that fly through the mind when one is in terrorizing situations.

4. Imagery: The author creates many images that portray or express his fear of the creature’s physical appearance as well as a state of burning and fire that surrounds the creature; “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright In the forests of the night,” because the reader envisions a flaming tiger in the woods at night. Another image used is that of fire in the tiger’s eyes, as well as a “furnace” in the tigers brain. The reader can only image the tiger’s natural ferocity combined with anger and in this particular context a flaming rage. The image of stars showering heaven with tears in the fifth stanza causes the reader to see a sort of contrast, for heaven is something good, therefore tears (which can represent sorrow and sadness) shouldn’t be shed to the creation of a creature.

5. Figurative Language: Within the first stanza, the reader can identify the first metaphor of the subject night being compared to forests. This is fitting because the reader can picture forests to be very deep, dark and usually large which fits the description of night for it is dark and spawns all across the sky for a long period of time. Another great example of figurative language used in this poem is hyperbole. In the fifth stanza, the deliberate exaggeration of stars watering heaven with their tears serves to express the sorrow that was caused to the creation of tiger. Through this image the reader can assimilate the author’s shock with the aesthetic characteristics of the creature.

6. Tone: The poem has an overall very negative tone. It is highly accusing “What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” The poem portrays a tone of sadness and the creature as something dreadful and unfriendly. The author is almost reproaching why God created such creature, questioning “Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

7. Theme: The theme of the poem was mainly to contrast the poem of the Lamb with, what we can refer to as, its predator. Throughout the poem the author questions the tiger in all manners; why is his character and aspect so, why does it have to create terror with its clasp. In conclusion, the theme of this poem is to focus on evil and contrast it to the previous poem of The Lamb.

8. Conclusions: The poem focuses greatly on evil over good, making the tiger the center of his remarks. The author focuses on the terror created by this creature and relates it fierceness to that of fire and flames. He questions the heavens above, even God himself, if he took pleasure in creating a creature that kills and destroys. With the emphasis and context of the poem the reader quickly forgets that these creatures only seek to survive.