The+Tyger


 * “The Tyger” William Blake**


 * Genre: Romanticism, Lyric**


 * Poetic Devices/Style:** William Blake’s poem contains six quatrains in rhyming couplets, has an assonant rhyme, and possesses a rhyme scheme of aabb. Several words that relate to tools used by a blacksmith to both create and destroy like ‘hammer’, ‘chain’, ‘furnace’, and ‘anvil’ are found in the fourth stanza. An allusion is made in “The Tiger” by Blake on line 9, “On what wings dare he aspire?” This is a reference to who was the creator of the Tiger, God or Satan. God is compared to a blacksmith.

the French Revolution’s (1789 – 1799) effect on Blake’s own perception of poetic Romanticism during the new changing times. The spirit of this revolution, during “The Enlightenment” period, became a theme of a rebellious Romanticism where tradition poetry was becoming rejected. During this time, new philosophic ideas were coming forward and the questioning of religion became a key focal point for many of the poems of the time, including Blake’s
 * Historical Period/Influence:** The main influence for “The Tiger”, can be found in


 * Characters/Relationships:** There is one main character in this poem, the speaker, and he is questioning God. While the speaker remains religious/loyal, the speaker is very inquisitive and unsure about the actions of God and is confused over His actions. The Tiger, which is not so much as a character as it is a symbolism for the evils and predators of the world, is indifferent to the speaker.


 * Setting/Plot:** The speaker of the poem is questioning which immortal, God or Satan, created the deadly predator the tiger. He ponders over what strength, what art, what craftsmanship could shape this being, and over how the maker fashioned the tiger. He wonders if the maker was pleased with his creation, and by the last stanza the speaker no longer questions who dared to create such a frightening creature, but seems to demand who did.


 * Thematic Observations/Key words:** The speaker begins which questioning which immortal could make the tiger, yet by the last stanza, changes his previous words from “Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” to “Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” -The poet can hardly believe that the creator of the lamb could dare create such a creature as the tiger, yet in his own way at the end, challenges this. Another theme of the poem is innocence/experience, for when innocence is destroyed by experience, the tiger is needed to restore innocence after injustices, evils and superstitions seek to end the joys of life. The tiger symbolizes the strength of humanity that struggles to escape from common earthly experiences such as sorrow, injustice and disappointment.

-A reference to who was the creator of the Tiger, God or Satan. -Can also be viewed as a reference to Greek mythology with Icarus, who flew on wings of feathers and died after he ignored his father to stay away from the sun.
 * Quotable:**
 * “On what wings dare he aspire?”**

-Was the maker proud of his creation. -What was the makers emotions and reactions to his creation.
 * “Did he smile on his work to see?”**

__**Text Questions & Facts Related to the Work**__ 2a) Do you agree with this statement: "`The Lamb' and 'The Tiger' may certainly be contrasted, but the animals should be regarded not as opposite but as different works of the same creation"? I agree with that statement because they are both equally about life and creation and in order to have good there must be evil. While they symbolise opposing viewpoints they are actually complementary and not contradictory. Represent two halves - innocence of childhood and then the cruelty an adult must learn.

b)What do you think the animals represent? Can you find evidence that the Tiger represents a powerful force defying complete understanding? The tiger represents fearful power and experience. The line “what art, / Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” (Lines 9-10) is a powerful description of a large demonic predator having its nature twisted into carnivorous malevolence by some divine force that has no love for the humanity that will be sharing the world with it.


 * Textbook info: By setting one poem against another, "The Lamb" and "The Tiger", William Blake forces the reader to think about "contrary" truths.