"The Tyger" by William Blake - Favorite Poems

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, & 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?

“The Tyger” moves extremely quickly, aided by the rhyming at the end of the lines (aabb ccdd…). This helps develop the image of the Tyger which is Blake’s ultimate intention. Tyger’s are quckly, deadly, hellish, dangerous, evil almost. The structure of the poem, it’s short lines and sentences, rhyming and short stanzas all contribute to its fast beat much like the Tyger.

Words like “hammer”, “chain,” “furnance,” and “anvil” give the Tyger a harsh appearance, as though he was from the depths of firey hell. Blake also comments on god and religion. He claims that both the lamb (good) and the tiger (evil) were created by the same being. “Did he who made the Lamb make thee.” By asking that question, Blake comments on the symmetry between all beings. Where there is good, there is evil. “Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

The religious intent comes through when Blake comments that god has created the Tyger. “Immortal” can only be a description of god and is used to symbolize him in Blake’s poem. Only a god could dare to create such a beast. The third stanza is dedicated entirely to the creation of the Tyger and describes it vividly. “Sinews of thy heart,” “dread hand” and “dread feet” all give off an aura of evil.