In the forests
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 sieze
the fire?
And
what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the
sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart
began to beat,
What
dread hand? & 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
watered 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?
First
publication date: 1794
<(URL:
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/tyger.html)>
“The Tyger”
was published in 1974 as one of the Songs of Experience and it is considered
as the continuation and improvement of another Blake’s poem “The Lamb”.
The title of the poem is basically that the poem is going to describe,
but I did not personally think that it would be that. Firstly this poem
called my attention because the author uses a lot of direct questions to
the reader. I think the poet makes this to emphasize the tiger qualities
and also I think that it is an allusion to the tiger’s creator because
in the poem, the poet makes reference to the tiger’s creator saying who
could create such an incredible animal.
In
form and structure the poem is divided in six four lines stanzas; most
of the lines are seven syllables (except lines 4, 10, 11, 18, 20 and 24
which are eight syllables). The poem is written in a rhetoric way, as I
have said before. The poem is divided in an introduction (lines 1-2), where
the poet says what he is going to describe; a development (lines 3-20)
where the poet analyzes his theme; and a conclusion (lines 21-24) where
the poem repeats the first stanza which it is a resume of all the poem.
In
the poem there are some poetic and literary figures for example in line
1 the poet uses a repetition “TygerTyger”
and also a metaphor “burning bright” because the poet wants to express
the colourful of the tiger. In line 4 the poet uses an adjective to describe
the dark expression of the tiger face “fearful”. In line 6 the poet uses
a metaphor because he wants to remark the power and force of the tiger
when he says ”Burnt the fire of thine
eyes”. In line 8 the poet also uses a metaphor when he says “What the hand
dare sieze the fire?” because he wants to
know who did create the tiger. In the third and fourth stanzas the poet
says a kind of allegories of how fearful the tiger is because he describes
the creator as an intelligent person with a very strong character because
the poet uses dramatic language than the other stanzas have. In the fifth
stanza the poet makes an allegory (lines 17 and 18) because stars can not
cry throw spears but they are also an allegory of how the tiger was created.
Blake also makes a comparison in line 3 “immortal” with “mortal” in line
16 because he want to say that the Creator was an immortal force who created
a fierce with a mortal terror.
In
the poet there are some kind of references; for example religious references
in line 3 when the author says “What immortal hand or eye”, the word “immortal”
is a clear reference to God and divinity. Also when Blake says “hand or
eye” is making reference to the creator (God’s hand).In
line 18 the word “heaven” is also a religious reference. In line 20 Blake
names “the Lamb” but this word I consider that it has a double meaning
because in one hand the poet could refer to his other poem “The Lamb”;
but in the other hand the Lamb could be the religious symbol of “Lamb of
God”. Here is one of dilemma of the poem because in the first case when
the author is talking about his past poem, he is also saying that he is
the creator of this poem, but if the poet is talking about the religious
symbol the poet is answered indirectly if God was also the creator of the
tiger because the poet is comparing the tiger and the lamb indirectly.
With
respect to the language I think that the author talks about the tiger in
a contemptuous form; for example in line 10 “Could twist the sinews of
thy heart?”, line 12 “dread hand”. And also in
the fourth stanza as I have said before, the poet uses a more dramatic
language than in the other stanzas; line 13 “hammer, chain” line 14 “ in
what furnace thy brain”… I think that the poet is questioning if the creator
of the tiger and the lamb is the same.
Finally
my personal opinion of the poem is very contradictory because the poet
in this poem has been sometimes contradictory; firstly I think that the
author is talking in a religious way because the religious symbols are
predominant but secondly sometimes these religious symbols are used in
a contemptuous way. Then, before I have read sometimes the poem I do not
know If the poet is praising the tiger of
on the contrary the poet is criticizing the tiger. Even though the poem
is seemed to me very interesting poem but sometimes a bit complicated to
the reader.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
William
Blake: The Tyger, www.eecs.hardvard.edu,
Ed Keith Smith, last visited 3rdAugust
2006.<(http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/tyger.html)>