English Literature | The Tyger - William Blake

Welcome to Your Study Guide: The Tyger by William Blake

Hello everyone! This section will focus on one of the most famous and challenging poems in English literature: "The Tyger" by William Blake. Don't worry if this seems tricky at first—we will break it down piece by piece.

Why is this poem important? It challenges us to think about creation, evil, and the terrifying power of God. Mastering the language and structure here will give you excellent tools for analyzing poetry in your exams!

Context: William Blake and the Songs of Experience

To understand "The Tyger," you must first understand the poet, William Blake (1757–1827). Blake was not just a poet; he was also an artist, engraver, and visionary who often critiqued the society and religion of his time.

The Tyger belongs to his collection, Songs of Experience.

Understanding Songs of Innocence and Experience

Blake published his poems in two contrasting volumes:

• Songs of Innocence: Represents the pure, sheltered, and trusting view of the world (e.g., "The Lamb").
• Songs of Experience: Represents a darker, more complex, and questioning view of life, recognizing pain, oppression, and evil (e.g., "The Tyger").

Think of it like this: Songs of Innocence is a child's view of the world; Songs of Experience is an adult's view, full of difficult questions. "The Tyger" explores the darkest questions that the innocent "Lamb" poem avoided.

Summary and Structure of the Poem

The Central Question

The entire poem is driven by one overwhelming question: Who created the Tyger? The speaker is filled with awe and terror when observing the Tyger's fierce beauty and wonders what kind of powerful, possibly terrifying, creator could have fashioned such a creature.

The Tyger’s fearsome power forces the speaker to question the nature of God himself.

Structure and Form

"The Tyger" is highly structured, which reflects the precision and careful design of the creature it describes.

• Stanzas: The poem has six quatrains (stanzas of four lines).
• Rhyme Scheme: It uses a powerful, repetitive AABB rhyme scheme (e.g., "bright/night," "eye/symmetry"). This strong, simple rhyme gives the poem a feeling of rhythmic, unstoppable force, like the beating of a hammer.

Meter (Rhythm)

The rhythm is predominantly Trochaic.

• What is a Trochee? A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (DA-dum).
• Example: Ty-ger / burn-ing / bright.
• Effect: This powerful, almost marching rhythm contributes to the sense of awe and the feeling that the Tyger is immensely strong and dangerous. It sounds like the pounding of the blacksmith's forge mentioned later in the poem.

Memory Tip: The strong, simple rhythm (Trochaic) and the simple rhyme (AABB) make the poem feel forceful, like the hammering of creation.

Deep Dive Analysis: Key Themes

The complexity of this poem comes from the themes it explores. Focus on these three areas for your exam analysis:

Theme 1: Creation and the Creator

The main conflict lies in trying to reconcile the Creator of the innocent, gentle Lamb with the Creator of the fierce, terrifying Tyger.

• The Paradox: How can one God create both perfect innocence (The Lamb) and terrible, fearful power (The Tyger)?
• The Question of Scale: The poem suggests that the Creator must be infinitely powerful—so vast that they can create absolute good and absolute terror with equal ease. The Creator is seen as divine, but perhaps also frightening and unknowable.

Did you know? The term for beauty mixed with terror is the Sublime. The Tyger is an example of the Sublime—it is magnificent, but looking at it inspires fear.

Theme 2: Fear, Awe, and the Nature of Evil

The speaker does not simply fear the Tyger; they are in awe of its perfection and power (its "fearful symmetry").

• The Tyger represents aspects of creation that are dangerous, violent, or evil. Blake questions why such things exist in a world supposedly made by a benevolent God.
• Symmetry: The Tyger's perfectly balanced body, built for hunting and destruction, suggests that its terrifying nature is not accidental; it was designed with precision.

Key Takeaway: The Tyger forces us to confront the existence of evil and uncontrollable power in the universe, suggesting that perhaps God’s nature is more complex and terrifying than simple religious doctrine suggests.

Deep Dive Analysis: Language and Imagery

Blake uses powerful images to convey the Tyger's magnificent and terrifying nature.

The Imagery of Fire and Forging (Extended Metaphor)

The poem presents the act of creation as the work of a cosmic blacksmith, using fire, metal, and immense strength. This is an extended metaphor that runs through stanzas 2, 3, and 4.

The Fire Imagery:

• "burning bright": Fire symbolises energy, passion, purification, but also destruction and hell.
• "The fire of thine eyes": The Tyger’s eyes suggest consuming, fierce energy, emphasizing its powerful will.

The Forging Imagery (The Blacksmith Creator):

Blake details the tools used by the Creator, emphasizing the effort and danger involved in making the Tyger. This contrasts sharply with the ease suggested in the creation of the Lamb.

• "In what furnace was thy brain?": Focuses on the heat and intensity needed to conceive such a creature.
• "What dread hand? & what dread feet?": Questions the physical effort and terrifying strength of the Creator.
• Tools of the Trade: Blake lists the blacksmith's dangerous tools: "The hammer," "the chain," "the anvil." These words evoke noise, heat, and terrifying labour.

Analogy: Imagine trying to create something extremely dangerous, like a nuclear reactor, using only simple tools. The sheer power required suggests a Creator far beyond human comprehension.

Rhetorical Questions and Repetition

The poem is dominated by questions. These are rhetorical questions—questions asked to make a point, not to receive an answer.

• They reflect the speaker’s profound sense of wonder and confusion. The lack of answers emphasizes that the Creator's power is a mystery.
• Repetition: The first and final stanzas are almost identical:
  • Stanza 1: "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night, / What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
  • Stanza 6: "Tyger Tyger burning bright, / In the forests of the night, / What immortal hand or eye, / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"

The Crucial Shift: The change from "Could" (Stanza 1) to "Dare" (Stanza 6) is vital.

• "Could" asks about capability (Was the Creator strong enough?).
• "Dare" asks about morality and courage (Did the Creator have the nerve to create something so terrible?).

This shift shows that the speaker’s awe has intensified throughout the poem, moving from simply wondering about the Creator's power to questioning the Creator's moral will.

Exam Preparation and Encouragement

Don't let the poem intimidate you. Remember, the core of the analysis is asking *why* Blake uses these specific images and structures.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do NOT assume the speaker is just describing a tiger in a zoo. The Tyger is a symbol of terrifying, perfect power and necessary evil.

How to Structure Your Answer

When analyzing a stanza, always link your point back to the central theme: the terrifying nature of the Creator.

• Point: Discuss the use of the word 'chain'.
• Evidence: Quote: "What the chain? what the hammer?"
• Explanation: This metaphor suggests that the Tyger's creation required immense effort to contain its fierce energy, implying the Creator had to master something incredibly dangerous.

Keep practicing identifying these techniques, and you will do brilliantly! You have the tools now to tackle this magnificent, complex poem.