The Tyger: William Blake

The Tyger is one of the most commonly analyzed poems by English writer and artist William Blake. Before the work is properly dissected, it is important to get an idea on the religious and personal beliefs of Blake himself, as they were very irregular for his time (mid 1700s, early 1800s) and greatly defined many themes in his works.

Blake was a highly religious man, but rejected many conventional religious structures, including organized religion. He could in that respect be called a spiritual Christian because of his intense devotion to God, relationship with the divine, and mythological aspects of his beliefs. His political beliefs are much like those of philosopher John Locke- Blake's viewpoints throughout life indicate support for liberalism and representative democracy, while still maintaining heavy ties between government and the church.

As his religious history would indicated, The Tyger is one of Blake's many odes to God. Here is the first stanza:

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

Note the use of the archaic spelling of 'tiger' seen both in the title and work.

It should be noted the use of exclamation marks and questions occur throughout the poem and create a tone of curiosity, imagination, and almost reverence towards "The Tyger". Blake also utilizes a host of words that could be associated with the divine, like "bright" or "immortal", to contribute further to this tone.

The poem's structure is somewhat irregular. In most of the lines, the structure is trochaic tetrameter, but in some lines-most notably the final one in the above stanza-the structure shifts to iambic tetrameter.

The theme of the poem becomes obvious in the final two lines of the stanza. The reference to the immortal hand and eye refers to intelligent design. Blake wonders and marvels at how God, who he sees as the designer and architect of all living things, created the being he sees before him. Blake later arrives at another question; why did God create such a beast?


"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?"

If God is a benevolent and loving being, why did he craft a tiger? To Blake, the tiger is not in any way a creature resembling God- it is a fearsome and merciless hunter of the night that does nothing to provide for man. Blake also comments on how unfeeling the tiger is, nothing that nothing in his capacity could possibly even slow or hamper the beast. He at one point ponders:

"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?"

The Lamb is another of Blake's works, often compared in direct contrast to The Tyger. This is a very effective method of contrast- Blake takes a creature associated with innocence and with God and then compares it to a creature, that, as far as he sees is, does not belong in God's realm.

Blake almost sees the existence of the tiger as a challenge to his faith. He genuinely cannot imagine why his God has crafted the creature. And the rest of the poem is...just that. Blake, despite having several stanzas in which to do it, can't compose a valid reason why this being exists. He ends the poem with the very same stanza that he started it with; What being could have composed you? And, for that matter, why?