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READ THIS
The poet looks at the power and yet the terror of the tiger and asks questions about its creation.
He uses the image of God as a blacksmith, beating the tiger into existence in the same way as a
blacksmith beats metal into shape.
But, asks the poet, is this the same Creator God as the one who shaped the lamb? Indeed, is this the
same God as the one who is the Father of Jesus Christ?
ABOUT THE POET
William Blake was born in London in November 1757. He lived most of his life in that city.
When he was 10 years of age, he attended a drawing school and thereafter made engraving his
profession, graduating from the Royal Academy at the age of 22.
He was then employed as an engraver to a bookseller and publisher, where he was responsible for
creating metal picture plates for making illustrations in books.
In 1783, Blake published his first volume of poems and thereafter established his own engraving business.
This enabled him to publish poetry in a way in which no other poet was doing: by incorporating his text
into engraved picture plates.
This would have remarkable consequences. First, the pictures were artistic renditions of the theme and
were not meant to be accurate. Second, each and every picture appeared in a slightly different shade of
colour so that it is difficult today to determine which colour was the original.
Move your mouse over the picture below to see an example of his engraving for "The Tyger".
Blake's best poems are found in just two collections: Songs of Innocence which he published in
1789; and Songs of Experience although this was not published on its own.
Indeed, his complete works was published in 1794 and was called Songs of Innocence and
Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.
Blake was regarded in his time as very eccentric, if not somewhat mad. In fact, his ideas make more
sense to us today than they did to his contemporaries.
He was a Christian but in a very unorthodox sense. Indeed, he appears to have been what we today call
a Gnostic Christian.
The Gnostics believed in the inner power of wisdom which guides us.
They also believed in two Gods. The first was the God who created material things: like the world, the
animals and humans. The second was the God who created the things of the spirit: like the human soul.
The first God is responsible for all the nasty things in life: like suffering and pollution and dreadful
industrialisation. The second God is responsible for all the wonderful things in life: like salvation, the
human spirit and, of course, Jesus Christ.
Study "The Tyger" carefully. Can you not see the existence of two Gods there? The one God
created the Tyger while the other created the Lamb.
At the time that Blake wrote "The Tyger", people knew very little about wild animals. Perhaps they
might have seen a lion in a circus but almost no-one would have seen a tiger.
A tiger therefore came to represent something to Blake, and it is this that he tries to portray in his poem,
"The Tyger".
But what is he trying to tell us? Is it, in the words of his anthology in which this poem was published,
something about "the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul"?
Blake died in August 1827. He was then 70 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Although your poetry book probably calls this poem "The Tiger", William Blake himself called it
"The Tyger". Is there any significance to either way of spelling? (4)
Before you answer this question, study the copy of the original published version of "The Tyger"
which is presented in the picture opposite. Just roll your mouse over the picture to see the pop-up version.
[Need help?]
Most modern poetry books ignore Blake's spelling which is a pity because we no longer get to look at the
poem as he actually wrote it.
Blake did several things that could be considered quaint. Have a look at his spelling in his picture-poem.
Notice that he only uses the word "and" if it appears at the beginning of a line. Elsewhere he uses
the ampersand or "&".
Then click on the picture and study it carefully. Blake did more than write poetry. He enclosed his poems
within an art form.
In this case, we have a very quaint picture where the words themselves become part of the graphic. Look
carefully at the tail of each letter "y". Do you notice that they form tyger-tails?
Blake had fun by producing a magical poem about a magical creature called "The Tyger" but we modern
people have lost the magic by no longer printing it as a picture. We've even changed Blake's spelling and
punctuation.
Where has all the magic gone?
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Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
- Comment on the use of alliteration in the words "burning bright" and "frame thy fearful
symmetry". (4)
[Need help?]
The alliterated "b's" have an explosive effect. They form strong words.
The alliterated "f's", on the other hand, underscore the fear that sight of the tiger causes. Indeed,
stutter on the "f" sound and you will immediately sound afraid.
And so, by alliterating in both these ways, the poet creates the impression both of exploding strength and
trembling fear.
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- Is the expression "burning bright" used literally or figuratively? Explain. (4)
[Need help?]
It's metaphorical, isn't it? The poet is referring to his tyger's eyes and yellow stripes which appear to glow
"as if on fire", even in the dark.
If you used "burning bright" literally, you could arrive at humourous consequences:
"Tyger, Tyger, burning bright. Oops, you've set the forest alight!" (I think Spike Milligan wrote that.)
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Comment on the rhythm of the poem as a whole. (4)
[Need help?]
The rhythm of this poem is very important.
The entire poem consists of pairs of stressed followed by unstressed syllables -- except, of course, the
last syllable of each line which is usually stressed.
The result is to reproduce the sound of a blacksmith beating down on his anvil, beating something out of
metal.
And that, of course, is the purpose of the rhythm: to create the image of the Creator God as the primeval
blacksmith, beating out his creation on the anvil of the universe.
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In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fires of thine eyes!
On what wings dare he aspire!
What the hand dare seize the fire?
- The word "fire" is used twice in this stanza. Explain the significance of this
repetition. (4)
[Need help?]
Repetition is usually used to stress something important.
Consider the comment made in the previous question. The poet is using the image of the Creator God
as the Eternal Blacksmith.
Blacksmiths use fire to heat the metal with which they are working. Is the poet therefore not stressing the
Eternal Blacksmith's fire?
On the other hand, is the poet trying to stress that perhaps the tyger came by the fire of his eyes from the
primeval fires of hell? Would anybody therefore dare to go into hell so as to seize that fire?
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Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
- Why does the poet use the upper-case "L" for "Lamb"? (4)
[Need help?]
Use of the upper-case always creates a proper noun. So the Lamb must therefore become
synonymous with an important being.
It should be noted, however, that the poet also always spells "Tyger" with the upper-case although,
sadly, modern versions of the poem do not maintain it -- and, by failing to do so, they alter the meaning
of this poem.
You probably know that traditionally for a Christian the "Lamb" is representative of Jesus Christ.
Remember that William Blake was a Christian poet, even if in the Gnostic sense.
The use of the upper-case "L" should therefore make the reader realise that the poet is referring
to Jesus Christ himself.
Did you know that Blake also wrote a poem called "The Lamb" and that this work is to be found in
his "Songs of Innocence"?
The Lamb therefore represents innocence. The Lamb is therefore being used as a symbol for something
very important.
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- Why does Blake compare the Tyger to the Lamb? (4)
[Need help?]
If the Lamb is a symbol for innocence, is not the Tyger also a symbol of something?
The clue is given in the fact that this poem is part of Blake's Songs of Experience. Just as the
Lamb represents "innocence", therefore, surely the Tyger represents "experience"?
It would be nice if our lives could be lived completely innocently, but that isn't possible. We also have to
have experience if we wish to grow -- and experience comes from suffering and pain.
The Tyger is therefore presented as a contrasting creature to the Lamb. The one represents innocence
while the other represents experience. But both are somehow necessary to life.
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The first and last stanzas are largely identical. Comment on their differences. (6)
[Need help?]
In Stanza 1, the poet asks "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry".
In Stanza 6, the poet asks "What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry".
There is a difference in stress here. "Could" means "able to", whereas "dare" means
"having the courage to do something".
In Stanza 1, therefore, the poet is merely asking how it was possible to create such an awesome creature
as the Tyger.
He then continues to describe the terrifying attributes of the Tyger, attributes that could only come from
the fires of hell.
And so he concludes by asking how anyone could have the courage to go into the very fires of hell to
create the Tyger.
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