The Tyger by William Blake: Text and Analysis
The Tyger by William Blake
Dr. S.P Dubey
William Blake was a
poet, painter, visionary, and an engraver. He was one of the precursors of the
Romantic Movement in English literature. With him the classical poetry came to
an end and the romantic poetry began. He was born on 28 November 1757 in London
to a middle class family. His father was a hosier. As a child Blake viewed the
world in light of what Wordsworth called the ‘visionary glean’. When Blake was
about nine, he told his parents he had seen ‘a tree filled with angels’ on one
of his walks. He would later claim that he had regular conversations with his
deceased brother Robert. He was self taught. Poetry and painting equally
attracted him. In 1782 Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher. They were a
devoted couple and worked together on many of Blake’s publications. He is held
in high regard for his expressiveness and creativity and for the philosophical
and mystical undercurrents in his work. His poetry and paintings have been
considered as part of both Romantic Movement and pre-romantic. He was
influenced by the ideals and ambitions of French and American Revolutions as
well as thinkers such as Jacob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg. He died on August 12, 1827 and was buried in
an unmarked grave at a public cemetery of Bunhill fields. Though many of his
contemporaries considered him mad, Wordsworth’s tribute after Blake’s
death reflected a different opinion of the time, ‘There was no doubt that this
poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which
interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott’.
Literary Works
The
Poetical Sketches published
in 1783 is a collection of Blake’s earliest poetry, much of it written in
boyhood. His better known works are Songs
of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
They reflect two widely different views of the human soul. Some of his other
well-known works are Gates of Paradise,
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, America, The
French Revolution, Jerusalem and Milton.
Blake wielded a considerable influence on the Pre-Raphaelites and on the poetry of W.B. Yeats. In the opinion of Swinburne, Blake is the only poet of ‘supreme and simple poetic genius of the 18th century, the one man of that age fit, on all accounts to rank with the old great masters’. William Rossetti praised his as a ‘glorious luminary’.
‘The Tyger’ is one of Blake’s most loved and most quoted poems. It was published in 1794 as a part of his collection Songs of Experience. The poem explores and questions Christian religious belief prevalent in late 18th century England. He questions God's intention and motivation for creating both the "Lamb" and the "Tyger." The poem begins with the speaker asking an awesome tiger what kind of divine power could have created it. Each subsequent stanza contains further questions, all of which refine the first one. The speaker primarily questions the existence of God and his metaphysical attributes. The poet wonders how the creator would have felt after completing his creation. Is he also the creator of the lamb? The speaker asks a number of questions regarding the nature of God and His creation and, in particular, the tiger. The poem questions whether the same God that created innocent and vulnerable creatures such as a lamb could create such a fierce and fearsome animal such as the tiger. The central idea of the poem is the question of why God has allowed evil to exist, and it explores the power of God and nature.
Text with Annotation
“Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forest of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
“In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare
he aspire?
What the hand, dare
seize the fire?”
“And what shoulder,
& 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?
Did he who made the
Lamb make thee?”
“Tyger, Tyger,
burning bright,
In the forests of
the night:
What immortal hand
or eye,
Dare frame thy
fearful symmetry?”
Tyger-Tyger—use of epizeuxis and apostrophe
burning bright—use of alliteration
fearful--
terrifying
symmetry—the right proportion
of parts
thine-- your (old English)
aspire—deeply desire
art—craftsman
sinews—bodily strength
dread—awe-inspiring
thee -- you (old English)
hammer —a tool with a heavy metal used for breaking things
or hitting nails.
anvil — an iron block on which a
blacksmith puts his pieces of metal before hammering them into shape
clasp—hold
Did……thee- use of paradox
Analysis
The poem explores the powerful and mysterious aspect of God and His Creation. In this poem, Blake challenges the Christian concept of God and religion where God is depicted as kind and merciful. Instead, Blake presents a multi dimensional aspect of God who has the ability not only to be kind but also to be fierce. The word “dare” suggests that God has not only the ability to create the tiger but also the strength and courage to create such a formidable and fearful creature. The poet starts by asking questions and his queries continues throughout the poem. But there is no answer to his questions. It suggests that humans lack the .
The Existence of Good
and Evil
The ‘tyger’ in the
poem symbolizes fear, danger and violence. The speaker reflects on the
existence of good and evil and questions whether God, who created “the Lamb”,
also created the fearful tiger. The speaker marvels at God’s ability to create
a creature that is “bright” and full of “symmetry”. However, the speaker uses
words such as “burning”, “fearful” and “dread” to highlight how fearful and
dangerous the tiger is.
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