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 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 water’d 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?
The poem “The Tyger” by William Blake, at first read, was mystifying. The odd spelling, jarring frame of thought, and allusions to different creatures is a lot to take in at first glance. Starting from the title: “The Tyger,” I wondered whether the author purposely spelled it with a “y” to create a double meaning or if that was the default spelling back in the day. Was this a person’s name that had nothing to do with the ferocious animal? With that in mind, I kept reading to find an answer.
The first paragraph introduces a lot of different ideas which were difficult to keep track of. On my initial read, all the ideas merged together into something along the lines of “the Tyger is burning bright yet immortal. Is it immune to fire? Is this an allusion to Satan?” With these kinds of poems, any references to religious texts or how heaven/hell work just go over my head since I have no experience learning about it. The idea of what “God” means in the western world is fundamentally different than what I grew up with.
Then the poem talks about thy fearful symmetry. My first question was if “thy” was referring to the reader directly or if the speaker was talking about the tiger. Why is symmetry something to be feared as it is so common in nature? As if I already didn’t have too many questions, the poem then bombarded me with a whole series of its own questions: “Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?” It even brought in a new character “he.” The speaker’s thoughts seem to be all over the place. Is “he” the tiger or could it be God or some angel (inferred based on the reference to wings)?
To add more to this complexity, the poem’s tone then dramatically changes from brave to fierce in the third and fourth stanza. There is some event that caused the “twist in the sinews of thy heart.” Even though I was not able to pinpoint the event or person that caused the change in heart, I recognized that this seems like the tiger’s heart because sinews are “tough muscular tissues” which is the first thing I think about in a tiger. The tone also shifts again “When the stars threw down their spears. And water’d heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see?” I was unsure at first if this was the same “he” as before. Why did he smile at the seeming destruction of heaven? My initial thought was this “he” has to be satan or an evil creature. But then after pondering it, this poem could be a criticism against God because he has allowed suffering and misery even though he has the power to fix it. My other idea was that this poem could be suggesting that God and Satan are one being that maintains happiness and misery in the world. Then the line after the shift asks “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” I immediately wondered why Lamb would be capitalized. This I am more certain is a biblical allusion but I am not entirely sure. Going off my earlier analysis, I think the speaker is pointing to the innocence of a lamb and contrasting it with the ferocious tiger, continuing to criticize God’s decision to create such evil creatures.
This poem left me with more questions than answers. The frame of thought that the reader is dropped into is quite jarring. With the multiple shifts of tone, overwhelming questions, and unclear characters, the only consistent thing I noticed was the AABBCC rhyme scheme. The more I reread it, the farther “The Tyger” drifts away from a coherent conclusion.
Hi Jimit,
When I first read this poem, I was confused a bit as well. In addition to all the points you brought up, I think the main question for me was who is the narrator? Is the narrator talking to the Tyger? I do like your idea about the poem being an allusion to religion, and maybe the Tyger’s fires could be a connection to hell? I do know that Blake also wrote a poem titled “The Lamb” and I think the Lamb referenced in line 20 could be a reference to that poem. Overall, however, I think I like how the poem sounds and feels. The slant rhyme between ‘eye’ and ‘symmetry’ is very fun to hear, and the rhyme scheme’s consistency adds to this. I find this poem challenging yet fun to read.
Judson
Hi Jimit,
I was also confused by thy fearful symmetry and the spelling of Tyger as well, but the religious inferences you made throughout this blog make a lot of sense and helped me draw conclusions as well. Regardless of the confusion though, I thought this poem was fun to just read and listen to. The AABBCC rhyme scheme is a scheme I’ve never really heard before, but it seems to work pretty well for this poem.
Hi Jimit,
I definitely agree that the poem is quite confusing to understand especially just after the first read. I found it interesting that you brought up the title of the poem and whether the poet was misspelling “Tyger”, or if it was a person’s name and had nothing to do with the animal. I really liked the last thought you left in which you say that this poem left you with more questions than answers. I find myself feeling this way with some of the poems we have been working with, and this one was one of the harder ones to comprehend.