The Tyger (Songs of Experience) By William Blake

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. Later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.

BACKGROUND “The Tyger“ represents the experience. It is the sister poem to "The Lamb.” It is a reflection of similar ideas from a different perspective. “The Tyger” presents a duality between aesthetic beauty and primal ferocity. It overwhelms us at once by the beauty and the horror of the natural world. It addresses the theme about human curiosity. By allowing us to see the same curiosity in two different angles, Blake’s poems suggest that maybe the contrary states of innocence (The Lamb) and experience (The Tyger) are not so contrary after all.

The “Songs of Experience” The Songs of Experience was published in 1794 as a follow up to Blake's 1789 Songs of Innocence. The "Songs of Experience" were written as a contrary to the "Songs of Innocence” The poems in Songs of Experience wrestle with issues of what happens when the innocence is lost. "The Tyger" is often paired with the poem called "The Lamb" from Songs of Innocence. Experience is not the face of evil but rather another facet of God’s creation.

Vocabulary Words 1.Sinews- (noun) a)a piece of tough fibrous tissue uniting muscle to bone or bone to bone; a tendon or ligament. b)strengthen with or as if with sinews. 2.Anvil- (noun) a)a heavy steel or iron block with a flat top, concave sides, and typically a pointed end, on which metal can be hammered and shaped. 3.Furnace- (noun) a)an enclosed structure in which material can be heated to very high temperatures, e.g., for smelting metals.

The Tyger By 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?

Literary Analysis (1 st Stanza) The first stanza opens the central question: "What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Who created the Tyger? The author/poet (William Blake) represents the Tyger as something that exudes brightness or power that stands out from darkness/misery/evil: 1 “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright. 2 In the forests of the night” The author also portrays the Tyger as something that is frightening: 3 “What immortal hand or eye 4 Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” These lines introduce the central question of the poem: what "immortal" being or force is able to produce the Tyger’s sublime form? The "immortal hand or eye," symbols of sight and creation, refer to God.

Literary Analysis (2 nd Stanza) The second stanza questions “The Tyger" about where he was created and also adds to the growing image the reader has of the Tyger.: 5 “In what distant deeps or skies. 6 Burnt the fire of thine eyes?” “Distant deeps or skies" seems to refer to an otherworldly ("distant") place, perhaps a kind of Hell ("deeps") or Heaven ("skies"). The word “burning” used as a metaphor in line 1 is also in line 6, the burning "fire" of the Tyger’s eyes, adding to the power and fearfulness of the image. The 2 nd stanza also sees the Tyger as something or someone who has the courage, determination and strong will to realize his aspirations and seize the power and success: 7 “On what wings dare he aspire? 8 What the hand, dare seize the fire?”

Literary Analysis (3 rd Stanza) The third stanza is about the creator and how he formed the Tyger: 9 “And what shoulder, & what art, 10 Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” “Shoulder” could represent or symbolize the strength that was used or needed to create the Tyger and “art” could represent the skill. If a man or a creation really loves what he is doing (“Could twist the sinews of thy heart?”) nothing can distract him to pursue what he really loves to do. ( 11 “And when thy heart began to beat, 12 What dread hand? & what dread feet?”) He would not fear or dread of doing what he loves to do.

Literary Analysis (4 th Stanza) The fourth stanza is about what “tools” were used to create the Tyger and it contains further questions about how it was created. It also gives us a picture or an idea about a blacksmith (or the creator) who forms metal with a hammer, a furnace and an anvil: 13 “What the hammer? what the chain, 14 In what furnace was thy brain? 15 What the anvil? what dread grasp, 16 Dare its deadly terrors clasp!”

Literary Analysis (5 th Stanza) The fifth stanza asks about the creator (God) and how he reacted to his creation (the Tyger). It asked whether the creator is happy to see anger(“threw down their spears”), and sadness or despair(“watered heaven with tears”) in his creation. It also wonders whether the creator who made peace or innocence (Lamb) also made chaos with a sense of awe and fear (Tyger).

Literary Analysis (6 th Stanza) Finally, the sixth stanza restates the central question while raising the stakes. Rather than merely questioning what/who could create the Tyger, the speaker wonders: who dares. First stanza: “What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Last stanza: “What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Literary Analysis (Comments) In the natural world, the opposites always exist. If there is peace- there’s war; love-hate; innocence-guilt; big-small; meek- assertive. The creator/God did these things for a reason. He has done this to create different facets of His creation. God made these different facets of his creation so it may have a wonderful and meaningful life. The trials, hardships and difficult challenges that His creation will go through is not necessarily evil and not used to punish or impose suffering, but to give His creation experiences (the Tyger) so he may grow, gain more wisdom and strength. A gentle world guided by kindness and understanding must face the reality of the Tyger.

Literary Devices The poem also uses Apostrophe on its subject. – Apostrophe is when a poet addresses a person, thing, or idea that isn’t able to respond. The tone of the poem is one of awe and reverence for something that is so powerful and full of life. The poem is comprised of six quatrains in rhymed couplets. (Six stanzas, four lines each). "The Tyger" follows an AABB rhyme scheme throughout except for lines 3 & 4 in which Blake rhymed “eye” with “symmetry”. 1 “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright. 2 In the forests of the night” 3 “What immortal hand or eye 4 Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” There is an allusion to the Bible when Blake speaks of the blacksmith or the creator which is referring to God and when he mentions the Lamb which refers to Jesus: “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” The meter is regular and rhythmic which resembles the sound or the rhythm of a blacksmith pounding on metal with his hammer. There is alliteration: (frame & fearful, burning & bright)

The Tyger By 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?

Literary Devices Blake uses imagery. (burning, fire, eyes= power and fearlessness of the Tyger). Another example would be in stanza 4 which creates a picture of a blacksmith forming or pounding on metal. Blake also uses repetition (Tyger! Tyger!), And he also uses refrain with a slight change because the word “could” in the first stanza changes to “dare” in the last stanza. First stanza: “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright, In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Last stanza: “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”