The Tiger by William Blake
TIGER, tiger, 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 seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and 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 water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
1. What is the Tyger or what does it represent? Is it the artist’s
creation? Is it inspiration? Is it God? Creation in general? A
poem? Or really just a tiger?
2. Who or what created the Tyger? Whose "hands," "feet," and
"eyes" are we talking about here? Is it the artist? Is it God?
A god? You?!
3. What is the significance of the one-word change from the
first to last stanza of the poem? (“dare” in the last stanza)
(Over to back side)
4. Explain the allusion to the “Lamb.” This is a Biblical allusion.
5. What’s with all the questions posed in the poem? There are
thirteen question marks, and only one complete sentence
that doesn’t end with one. Why? Did Blake’s keyboard just
have a sticky key?
The questions above were taken from a website for students called Schmoop.com. This site is written in
“student speak” but actually has excellent information for research purposes written by academics at
top colleges. This is a credible source of information. http://www.shmoop.com/tyger/questions.html
Notes on structure in “The Tiger”:
6 quatrains with 2 rhyming couplets in each quatrain
Generally a trochaic rhythm. Trochee = DUM-da, DUM-da
Pulsing beat enhances the tone of desperation.
Parallelism of the questions contributes to the pulse.