TIGER, BY WILLIAM BLAKE POEM SUMMARY

Stanza 1
In the first stanza, the poet says that the tiger is burning bright in the forests of the night.
The line means that the tiger which is in the forest is burning like fire or in other words looking
like yellow fire in the dead of night. The burning bright also reflects the tiger’s bright yellow
colour that makes it look fierce.
In the third line, the poet raises a rhetorical question, which is the immortal hand or
eye which is capable of framing or building its fearful symmetry. The poet, in a way,
appreciating the power of God who can create such a fearful structure and bear its appearance.
The man can neither create it nor can bear its appearance due to fear.

Stanza 2
In the 2nd stanza, the poet talks about the eyes of the tiger. He wonders from which distant (he
means infinite places) the fire has been brought and put into the eyes of the tiger.
The fire has been brought either from skies (i.e., either sun or heaven) or from deep oceans
(means either core of the earth or hell) because it cannot be an ordinary fire of the world but
divine one which makes the eyes of the tiger so fierce.
In the third line, the poet wonders which were those wings that took Him to those distant
areas. Similarly, which were the hands which dared to catch that divine fire. So, in the first two
lines, he appreciates the fire and, in the 3rd, and 4th lines, he appreciates the Wings and Hands
of the Creator.

Stanza 3
In the third stanza, the poet talks about the heart of the tiger. He wonders what kind of
shoulders and the art the Creator would have which twist (give shape) the muscles or ligaments
of tiger’s heart. Here the poet is praising the power and amazing art of God which helped Him
creating tiger’s heart.

In the third line, he is amazed by thinking how powerful Creator’s hands and feet are which
made Him stand in front of the tiger when its heart began to beat. In this stanza, the poet
seems to praise the Creator’s physical power, daring nature and His jaw-dropping art.

Stanza 4
In the fourth stanza, the poet praises the brain of the tiger. He wonders which hammer, chain,
anvil and furnace the Creator would have used to create the brain of the tiger. These tools are
used by the ironsmith to create solid and heavy items.
The brain of the tiger, for the poet, is no less than iron. Hence, he thinks about the divine tools
used to create the brain of such a deadly animal. Again, the poet wonders how powerful would
the grasp of the Creator which could hold the deadly brain of this animal.

Stanza 5
TIGER, BY WILLIAM BLAKE POEM SUMMARY

In this stanza, the poet tends to compare this deadly animal to the lamb, which is meek,
innocent and quite opposite to the former.
The poet says that when God created the tiger, the stars (here means Satan and his followers)
which were in war with Him were so frightened by its (Tiger’s) sight that they accepted their
defeat and threw down their weapons and made the sky wet with their tears.
In the third line, the poet wonders would God have smiled after creating Tiger as it was beyond
words for Satanic forces. He again thinks are He the same who created the lamb because the
latter is quite innocent and meek while the former is deadly enough to frighten Satan.

Stanza 6
The final stanza is a repetition of the first one. The only word changing here is ‘dare’ instead of
could which is quite significant. In the first stanza, the poet seems to be less amazed by the
powers of tiger and God but after going through all the features of the tiger he wonders it is
only God who can dare to create such an animal.