The Tyger

By William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, Did he who made the Lamb make
thee?
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
In what distant deeps or skies,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? And 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?
 Analysis of William Blake’s The Tyger
Another figurative language By John that Carlcan be observed are assonance which
C. Collado
repeats the vowel sound in the same line such as the sound of /i/ in “Tyger
Tyger, burning bright” and /ae/ sound in “Dare its deadly terrors and clasp!”;
metaphor ThewhichTygeris is usedsaidin to
thebe second line “In
the most the forest
widely of the night”
anthologized poem where he
in the
compares the tiger with darkness and repression, and
English language since it entirely questions the nature of God and the creation “Burnt the fire of thine
eyes?”
of both to comparebeings
vulnerable its eyes with fire orbysomething
represented the lamb and evil; the
rhetorical
fearsome question
tiger
where Blake uses a series of questions in the poem
which figuratively suggests that it brings with it the chaos all over the world. to emphasize his point
such as “What
Although the lamb the is
hammer? Whatcounterpart
just another the chain, In of what furnace
the poetry Thewas thy brain?
Tyger – the
world seems to be interconnected of these works. The tiger here becomeshow
What the anvil? What dead grasp”; personification to animate things like the
he considers the stars as humans; symbolism where
symbol for one of the religion’s most difficult question: why does God allow the tiger represents the
evil toand
evil exist? beauty, the forest for unknown challenges, the blacksmith to
represent God, and the fearful symmetry to symbolize the existence of both
good and The evil;themes such the
and lastly, as imagery
the existence
where itofis evil usedand to showcreativity were
the unique
distinguished.
creation of GodFirst, suchthe tiger here
as “What immortal poseshand a problem as it embodies
or eye,”, “Burnt fear,
the fire of thine
danger
eyes” and and“Interror, it is designed
the forests of the night.”to kill and figurative
These inflict pain. In othershows
language words, thatit
counters God’s laws and ethics. Its
Blake has enough wisdom to employ this to his masterpiece. association to “burning brightly”
underscores the point that it is marvellous to look from afar but dangerous to
get close Theto.poetic devices
Creativity, ranges
on the otherfromhand,stanza
suggestswhere thatit the
is atigerpoetic
wasform made of
lines.
as It has skill,
an effort, six stanzas
artistry, andand each stanzasThis
imagination. have four lines.
implies that all These
good lines are
creation
is incorporated with dangerous and intimidating side of the world. The tigerthe
called to be quatrain which is borrowed from Persian poetry. Moreover, is
rhyme scheme entirely followed the AABB rhythm,
consistently linked with fire, thus, an allusion towards Prometheus – a Greek the end rhyme is used to
makewhom
myth the stanza
stole the melodious
fire from godssuch toasgive “bright”,
it to the “night”,
humanity.“skies”,
Insteadandof“eyes”.
being
Therefore,forBlake’s
rewarded literaryhepiece
his ingenuity, is purely to
was condemned a eternal
chef’s punishment.
kiss. We began to
distinguish this masterpiece from its major themes, the usage of literary
devices, Theand poemthe sets
usageupofaspoetic the maindevicesthematic
in thequestion:
work. AlthoughWho created at first the
we
tiger, how, and why? God may be created the lamb
cannot distinguish its difference from each other, I believe that when we and the tiger but the latter
is entirely different
thoroughly analyse thanits parttheandlamb. It is a threat
wholeness, to humanity,
we learn to appreciate it is dangerous
how these
making it hard for human beings to understand God’s
literary artists create what they love the most in expressing themselves. motivations for creating
it. Moreover, the stanza’s figurative language such as the epizeuxis,
apostrophe, and alliteration are being discussed. First, it begins with an
instance of epizeuxis, with the immediate repetition of “Tyger” signalling the
readers that it is the central figure of the poetry. Second, the direct address of
apostrophe, “The Tyger” is seen as a kind of awed and fearful meditation on
the fact of its existence. Another poetic devices and figurative language that is
being catered is alliteration which occurs in line 1 and is repeated in line 21
- /b/ sound of “burning bright” which makes the phrase more colourful and
vivid. In line 4 and line 24 - /f/ for “frame” and “fearful” expresses a cautious
sense of awe at the abilities and powers of whoever created the tiger. Line 5
also uses two /d/ sounds in “distant deeps” to create a sense of depth that
perhaps relates to the idea of hell as an underground place. Then, line 11’s
alliteration brings the idea of heart beating to sonic life - /b/ sounds for “began”
and beat. Lastly, the line 16 links “daringness” and deadliness” to recall the
consonant /b/ sound in line 5.