2. Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
3. Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
4. Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
5. 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?
6. 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?
7. 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?
8. 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?
9. What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
10. 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?
11. 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?
12. Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
13. The Tyger
William Blake
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 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? & 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?
Editor's Notes
-These first lines set up to whom the poem is addressed
-used of Alliteration (Tyger Tyger, burning bright)
-"Burning bright" may describe the appearance of the Tyger
The setting of tiger- increases the mystery and power of the creature
Allusion: (Immortal hand or eye): God or Satan
(fearful symmetry) refers to the scariness of a tiger
What immortal being created this terrifying creature which, with its perfect proportions (symmetry),
-where the Tyger was created?
-Was it created in hell (distant deeps) or in heaven (skies)?
-Allusion: Distant deeps or skies: hell or heaven
-burning "fire" of the Tyger’s eyes, adding to the power and fearfulness of the image.
-He includes Satan as a possible creator while raising his rhetorical questions
-If the creator had wings, how could he get so close to the fire in which the tiger was created? How could he work with so blazing a fire?
-Continues the questioning of who/what the creator of the Tyger is
-What strength (shoulder) and craftsmanship (art) could make the tiger's heart?
-What being could then stand before it (feet) and shape it further (hand)?
-Anaphora: Repetition of the beginning of sentences or clauses. (What dread hand? & what dread feet?_
-Speaker uses the metaphor of the blacksmith, who forms metal with a hammer, furnace (fire), and anvil.
-What kind of tool (hammer) did he use to form the tiger in the forge fire?
-What of the heat in the furnace and the anvil on which the maker hammered out his creation?
-How did the maker muster the courage to grasp the tiger?
-may refer to the casting down of the angels after Satan rebelled against God
-(HE) more closely referencing God
-speaker asks how would the creator have felt of His creation?
-is He the same creator who made the lamb
-"Lamb" is a Christian symbol for Jesus Christ
-REPITITION of the first stanza
-"could" is switched to "dare.”
-significant change, for the poet is no longer asking who had the capability of creating the tiger but who dared to create so frightful a creature.
-speakers’ idea that nature, like a work of art, must in some way contain a reflection of its creator.
-The tiger is strikingly beautiful yet also horrific in its capacity for violence.
-What kind of a God, then, could or would design such a terrifying beast as the tiger?
-Why does evil exist in a universe created and ruled by a benevolent God?
-reflect reality in arresting images
- the speaker is at a loss to explain how the same God who made the lamb could make the tiger.
-Is it possible that the same God who made the lamb also made the tiger? Or was the tiger the devil's work?
-humans are incapable of fully understanding the mind of God and the mystery of his handiwork.
