"The Tyger" by William Blake 1/12/12

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?

REACTION: This poem, paired with “The Lamb,” is a comparison of the Tiger to the Devil. I am confused by the actually meaning of the poem, though, because it seems very random to me. I know that the narrator is questioning whether or not this devil/tiger was made by the same God who could make the innocent, pure lamb/ Jesus Christ. This is a very important question asked throughout religions since the beginning of time. Could a God who loves people so much make chaos.

PARAPHRASE: Tiger in the night, who could have made you? What makes you so evil? What do you want and what will you do to get it? What made your heart so dark? How did the creator even finish the job? You were an evil project requiring much wielding. How did your creator feel when he looked at the final project? Is your creator the same as the lambs?

SWIFTT:

-SW: There is only one complete sentence in the poem, yet 13 question marks. The author also does not use any concern for capitalization, especially when referencing God as a “he.” This poem has six stanzas that are four lines long with rhymed couplets.

-I: The main imagery in this poem is the comparison of the creator to a blacksmith. The author explains the different tools that will be used to mold the harsh metal.  Other imagery is the distant skies and deeps, tiger burning bright in the night, and the fiery eyes.

-F: The main figurative language in this poem is the comparison is the tiger to the devil and then the creator to a blacksmith. There are no similes.  

-T: This poem has an ominous tone when asking the tiger all these questions. The narrator keeps asking whether about the creator and about the evilness of the tiger. It becomes the most ominous at the point when the author asks about if the creator could finish making the tiger.

-T: The theme of this work is the most philosophical question known to man. Did the same God created the good and innocence in the world that created the chaos? Blake ties the tiger to the Devil, strengthening the ties in the Bible that the Devil causes chaos.

CONCLUSION: I am not as confused after analyzing. I find that this poem is very indirect in its message, but it is very effective. The ties between this poem and his other poem “The Lamb” push across the philosophical point Blake was trying to make. Is there a God that created the evil and chaos of the world along with the innocence and purity? While in my first reaction, I mainly saw the Devil comparison thLittle Lamb, who made thee? at was directly parallel to “The Lamb,” now I see other layers of meaning.