Poetry Deep Dive:

The Tyger by
William Blake
 Learning Objective
To explore and analyse William Blake’s The Tyger.

Success Criteria
• To explore the poem’s context, language, imagery and feelings, form
and structure.
• To analyse key elements of the poem and their effect on the reader.
• To summarise the central question posed by the poem.
The Most Powerful Animal
What’s the most powerful animal in the world? Why? Pick a creature and give five
reasons why you’ve chosen it.
The Tyger
Now, read The Tyger by William Blake. If Blake were making a similar
list, what do you think his reasons for choosing the tiger would be?

The Tyger
Tyger Tyger, burning bright, What the hammer? what the chain,
In the forests of the night; In what furnace was thy brain?
What immortal hand or eye, What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

In what distant deeps or skies. When the stars threw down their spears
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? And water'd heaven with their tears:
On what wings dare he aspire? Did he smile his work to see?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

And what shoulder, & what art, Tyger Tyger burning bright,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? In the forests of the night:
And when thy heart began to beat, What immortal hand or eye,
What dread hand? & what dread feet? Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Take a Deep Dive from the CLIFFS
In this lesson, we’re going to explore William Blake’s The Tyger in detail. We will take a deep dive into:

C ontext

L anguage

I magery

F eelings

F orm

S tructure

Deep Dive: Context
Blake’s The Tyger was published in his Songs of
Experience and is a sister poem to The Lamb, a
poem in his Songs of Innocence.
The Lamb
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Context: Pause
3. What did William
Blake do for a living?
4. How do you think
2. What were the beliefs William Blake’s visions
of the Romantics? contributed to his work?

1. What was the 5. Look at The Lamb

Industrial Revolution? and The Tyger. How
are they “sister
poems”?
Deep Dive: Language
Because it was written 300 years ago, The Tyger has some language which
might not be familiar to us. Our first question might be about the titlex – why
do you think Blake usesOld-fashioned; belonging to a previous time.
this strange spelling?

The spelling of tyger is archaic

archaic. In past centuries, there wasn’t the focus on
spelling that we have today. Indeed, it wasn’t uncommon for people to spell
their own names in many different ways!

There are some other words used by Blake which might be challenging, or
which have a different meaning to their meaning today. Go through the
poem and highlight any words you’re not sure of. Can you guess their
meaning from their context?
Deep Dive: Language
The Tyger x
x A fire used for melting metal.
x
Tyger Tyger,
Causing burning
people to bright, Parts which areWhat the hammer? what the chain,
In
bethe forests
afraid; of the night; in proportion. In what furnace was thy brain?
dreadful.
What immortal hand or eye, anvil what dread grasp,
What the anvil?
symmetry
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
x
x A block on which metal is hammered.
Your. x
In what distant deeps or skies.
Rise high. When the stars threw down their spears
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? And water'd heaven with their tears:
On what wings dare he aspire
aspire? Did he smile his work to see?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
x
Tissue linking muscle and bone.
And what shoulder, & what art, Tyger Tyger burning bright,
x
Couldawe.
Inspiring twist the sinews of thy heart? In the forests of the night:
And when thy heart began to beat, What immortal hand or eye,
What dread hand? & what dread feet? Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Deep Dive: Language
Using the definitions you’ve found, can you create a modern language version of
the poem?
Deep Dive: Language
Now, let’s look at the poem’s language in more detail. Follow the pathway to explore the
language elements in The Tyger.
Why do you think
the author repeats
the first word of
the poem?
x
Describing something by
saying it is something else.
Are there any
metaphors in the poem?
What’s their effect?
x
Repetition of a letter sound at
the beginning of words which
are close together.
Can you spot any
alliteration in the
first line? What’s
the effect of this? How many questions
can you find in the
poem? Why do you
think this is? What
does it tell us about
the speaker?
How many times can you
find the word “dare” in the
poem? What impression
does this give us?
Language: Pause
Write a paragraph explaining one thing you have found out about the language
used in The Tyger. Don’t forget to use a quotation directly from the poem to
illustrate your point.

In Blake’s The Tyger, the author repeats

the first word of the poem, “Tyger, Tyger”.
This repetition implies that the speaker is
entranced or mesmerised by the animal.
By starting the poem so directly, with its
subject as the first word, we are aware of
the dominance and power that the tiger
has.
Deep Dive: Imagery
and Feelings
We know that Blake’s poem is considered a
sister poem to The Lamb. Both animals are
mentioned in The Tyger.
What characteristics do we associate with
lambs and tigers? How do we feel about both
animals?
The Lamb
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Deep Dive: Imagery and Feelings
What are the other key images the poet paints in his readers’ minds? Go through the poem
and highlight:
1. Words which the speaker uses to describe the tiger.
2. Words which the speaker uses to describe the tiger’s creator.
Use different colours for each one.
Now, look at your highlighting. What impression do we get of the tiger? What impression do
we get of the creator? Does any of the imagery cross over or contrast?

Tiger Creator
Darkness: Heaven:
‘forests of the night’ ‘stars threw down their spears’
Fire: Forge/fire:
‘burning bright’ ‘hammer’
‘burnt the fire’ ‘furnace’
‘seize the fire’ ‘anvil’
Power: Power:
‘fearful symmetry’ ‘dare’
‘sinews’ ‘dread hand’
‘deadly terrors’ ‘dread grasp’
Imagery: Pause
Create a mood board for the poem. What images, colours and designs will you
include to reflect Blake’s ideas?
Deep Dive: Form and Structure
Try reading the poem out in pairs, alternating
stanzas. Don’t follow the poem on the page -
listen carefully to each other as you speak.

Still in your pair, now try delivering the poem

in different ways. Can you rap the poem, sing
it, beatbox to it, split up the lines or words
between each other? How can you make the
poem sound more modern?

What did you notice about the poem’s rhyme

and rhythm? Why do you think the poet has
made these choices?
The Tyger
Why do we repeat things?
There are lots of examples of repetition in Blake’s poem. Can you identify any? What is their effect?

The Tyger
Tyger Tyger,
Tyger Tyger,burning
burningbright,
bright, What the hammer? what the chain,
In the
the forests
forestsofofthe
thenight;
night; In what
whatfurnace
furnacewas
wasthy brain?
thy brain?
What immortal
What immortalhand handoror
eye,
eye, What the
What theanvil?
anvil?what
whatdread grasp,
dread grasp,
Could frame
Could framethy
thyfearful
fearfulsymmetry?
symmetry? Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

In what distant deeps or skies. When the stars threw down their spears
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? And water'd heaven with their tears:
On what
whatwings
wingsdare
darehe
heaspire?
aspire? Did he smile his work to see?
What thehand,
What the hand,dare
dareseize
seizethe
thefire?
fire? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

And what
whatshoulder,
shoulder,&&what
what art,
art, Tyger Tygerburning
Tyger Tyger burningbright,
bright,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? In the
the forests
forestsof
ofthe
thenight:
night:
And when thy heart began to beat, What immortalhand
What immortal handoror eye,
eye,
What
What dread
dreadhand?
hand?&&what
what dread
dreadfeet?
feet? Dare framethy
Dare frame thyfearful
fearful symmetry?
symmetry?
Form and
Structure: Pause
Imagine you had to teach someone in
the year below about form and
structure in The Tyger. How would you
explain it? Practise on your partner.
The Big Question
We’ve looked at:
Context
The Tyger is a product of the Romantic Movement, a reaction to the Industrial Revolution.
Blake was interested in the relationship between innocence and experience.
Language
Blake uses powerful adjectives and alliteration to convey the might of the tiger and its creator.
Imagery and Feelings
The imagery of fire and something being forged is strong throughout the poem. Blake uses the
contrasting imagery of lamb and tiger to explore how we feel about innocence and experience.
Form and Structure
Although it has a deceptively simple structure, the poem repeats its first stanza, with one
significant word change.

Now, we come to the final, big question: what’s it all about?

What’s It All About?
If William Blake were alive today, he might not be writing poetry at all. Maybe he’d be spending
his time on social media instead. How would he phrase the big question that’s bothering him?
What would a 21st Century Tyger look like?