THE TYGER

William Blake

By Selis Tuana TİRYAKİ

 Historical Background

American Revolutionary Death of

Birth of William Blake War William Blake

1757 1760 1775 1789 1827

British Industrial French

Revolution Revolution

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Literary
Background
◦ After the Augustan Age (already existing beauty), came
the Romantic Age.

◦ Unlike the Augustan poets - Romantics believed in

imagination (discovering the unknown)
◦ indivudiality
◦ not considered themselves as a part of a movement.

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Nature
◦ After the revolutions, the living conditions remained
poor. The streets were overcrowded and filthy.

◦ going back to nature - the perfect getaway from the

cruel reality

◦ The nature - a reflection of the human soul

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 William Blake
◦ Romantic poet and painter

◦ poor life - this quality of his life and the conditions existing in the
era led him to see the world through the eyes of the public

◦ revolutionist - romantics questioned the restrictive influences like

the government or in a bigger context, God

◦ overlooked – gifted but insane

◦ after a whole century - recognition
◦ one of the most creative and authentic poets of his time

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Songs of Innocence and
Songs of Experience
◦ «illumunated books» called «Songs of Innocence» and
«Songs of Experience»
◦ both poem texts and art

◦ Some of the poems - pairs.

◦ The Lamb from Songs of Innocence and The Tyger from

Songs of Experience.

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The Tyger
◦ one of the most known poems in Songs of
Experience
◦ perfect example of William Blake’s style

◦ romantic elements – imagination and

reflecting the revolutionary spirit

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Why Tyger instead of Tiger?
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◦ To make it more exotic
◦ To give the feeling that something is wrong with it
◦ To make it look like it doesnot belong to this world, to alienate it

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◦ questions about a divine being that created the tyger

◦ The pace of the questions - changes and remain unanswered

◦ many different opinions about what it actually means

◦ intentional - every reader can relate to the poem

◦ the word God – again intentional - people from other religions

◦ main purpose of the poem - to make us form some questions and find answers
of our own
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◦ In my opinion, the purpose of the creation of the nature is to make
us humans to find the creator because in order to understand the
nature of humans, we can analyze the nature itself and when we look
deep inside the nature we will see that only a divine creator could
create this kind of a perfect balance but the very thing that make us
question these is the existence of the bad along with the good.

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 In order to understand the nature of humans, we
can analyze the nature itself.
◦ looks like - about the tyger
◦ And what shoulder, & what art,
◦ in a deeper means - one part of the nature - find answers about
the nature of human soul ◦ Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
◦ talking about the tyger - the words «hand» and «feet» ◦ And when thy heart began to beat,
◦ human features - main intention - figuring out the human soul ◦ What dread hand? & what dread feet?
itself

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 When we look deep inside the nature we will see that
only a divine creator could create this kind of a perfect
balance. ◦ Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
◦ In the forests of the night;
◦ What immortal hand or eye,
◦ Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
◦ references - a creator.
◦ And what shoulder, & what art,
◦ the tyger - perfect balance of good and bad - only an immortal
being could have created that ◦ Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
◦ the creator cannot be a worldly being ◦ And when thy heart began to beat,
◦ the tyger couldn’t have been created in the world we know
◦ What dread hand? & what dread feet?

◦ In what distant deeps or skies

◦ Burnt the fire of thine eyes!
◦ On what wings dare he aspire? 10.03.2021

◦ What the hand dare seize the fire?

Are the things we consider as «bad» really bad?
For example, we see thorns as bad things. But
are they really bad? Or do we call them bad
because it hurts us? But it protects the plant it’s
attached to, like a rose. So, what is «bad» really?

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 The very thing that make us question these is the
existence of the bad along with the good in the nature.

◦ poem - questions about the nature of the creator

◦ the creation reflects the nature of the creator

◦ When the stars threw down their spears
◦ starts with - the questions about the abilities of the creator
◦ And water’d heaven with their tears:
◦ shifts into - the questions about the intentions of the creator
◦ Did he smile his work to see?
◦ question with a referring to the poem’s pair in the the collection
◦ is the creator good or bad or both? ◦ Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
◦ if everything was good - wouldn’t question anything
◦ taking the good things for granted
◦ never knowing it’s value
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 Conclusion

◦ In conclusion, the poet had a lot of questions about the nature and the creator
that remained unanswered and left the space open for our own thoughts and
ideas. There can be various kinds of opinions about what the poem actually is
about. My opinion is that by questioning the creator using it’s creation, the poet
aims to find out about the human soul and the nature of god. While doing that,
we come to a conclusion that the creator had the intention of making us
humans to find the creator through examining our surrondings.

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Thank You

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