Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
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 ,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 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
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Songs
of Experience, 1794
William Blake
Source: http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/tyger.html
POEM’S
COMMENTARY
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
CARD
AUTHOR:
WILLIAM
BLAKE
TITLE:
THE TYGER
PUBLICATION’S
YEAR: SONGS OF EXPERIENCE, 1794.
INTERNAL
ANALYSIS
The title
At first sight the title suggests
that it can be an animal’s description or something related to this animal, in
that case, a tiger. Because of the noun, we can´t
deduce anything else.
Themes
The principal theme is God’s creation because in the
first stanza, third and fourth verse it is said “What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy
fearful symmetry?” or “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?” in the third stanza; and the most faced evidence is in
the fifth stanza, third and fourth verse “Did
he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”; For
Christians, God did the universe. Another important aspect is that it starts
with the same stanza that ends, “Tyger! Tyger! burning
bright, In the forests of the night, What it immortal hand or eye, Dare frame
thy fearful symmetry?”.
Also Blake is highlighting the magnificence of God
with nouns and adjectives like “immortal
hand” 1st stanza, 3rd verse, “What the hand dare sieze the fire?”,
2nd stanza, 4th verse; again the 3rd stanza “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?”… and at the same
time, in the poem it is written that the tiger is made with a “fearful symmetry”,1st and 4th stanza, which means
that God isn’t completely perfect, I mean if God is perfect, why is the tiger
not? It seems to be that Blake is criticizing the figure of God.
It appears as a lamentation which is another
theme as shows the 2nd stanza, “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?”
The meaning
As it is said before, I think that a big
disappointment exists with the grace of God because perfection doesn’t really
exist and Blake is pointing it out.
The poem is written in the third person because it
seems that Blake is referring to someone by a description, seeing as a
religious poem, and the person appears (i.e “he” and “thee” 5th stanza, 3th and 4th verse “did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?; also it appears “thy” in “thy fearful symmetry” 1st stanza, 4th verse;
“thy heart began to beat” 3rd stanza, 3rd
verse; “In what furnace was thy brain”
4th stanza, 2nd verse During the poem there are a lot of
rhetorical questions, questions without answers. Probably Blake is speaking
alone but he is referring all the time to God. Blake is reproaching God that he
is not perfect.
The tone
The poem’s tone and mood are rhetorical due to all the
questions without answers, but they are very gloomy because the poem is
wondering all the time about the tiger, and that requires this kind of tone.
EXTERNAL
ANALYSIS
The structure
The poem is structured in six stanzas of four verses
each one. I think that the poem is a sixth.
Iconic images
In the poem we can observe several images that help us
to imagine the different feelings which Blake transmits, i.e;
“burning bright” is a synonym of light
which is the Bible’s preferred symbol. Light appears the first time in the
Wold’s Creation and in most of the ways to demonstrate God to men; “burnt the fire”, fire is an exceptional
creational symbol; it is the Holy Ghost´s
presence.
Metaphors
The author also uses metaphors to express the feelings
that Blake uses to imagine how he really feels, i.e. “What immortal hand or eye”
1st stanza, 3rd verse;“In what distant deeps or skies Burnt
the fire of thine eyes?” 2nd stanza, 1st
and 2nd verse; “Could twist
the sinews of thy heart?” 3rd
stanza, 2nd verse; “In
what furnace was thy brain?” 4th stanza, 2nd verse;
and finally,“When the stars threw down their spears and
watered heaven with their tears” 5th stanza, 1st and
2nd verse.
Personal response
My personal response about the poem is an indifferent
impression because I’m not interested in religious poems and I believe in my
way. But I think that the poem transmits a lot of significance. Really although
the author knows that the poem is going to be read by a receiver, he is asking
questions and nobody will answer him but Blake needs to write how he feels and
the way he believes in God. This is my impression.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
· William Blake:
The Tyger, Keith A. Smith
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/tyger.html 17.10.05