The Tyger By William Blake

THE TYGER BY WILLIAM BLAME
About the Text
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"The Tyger" is a poem written by English poet William Blake published in 1794 as part of the Songs of Experience collection. It has been called "the most famous of his poems," It is one of Blake's most interpreted works.


Main Text
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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 seize 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 water’d 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?

Summary 
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The poem begins with the speaker asking a tiger what kind of divine being could have created it. From what part of the cosmos could the tiger’s burning eyes have come, and who would have dared to handle that fire? What sort of physical presence, and what kind of craftsmanship, would have been required to twist the sinews of the tiger’s heart? The speaker wonders how, once that horrible heart began to beat, its creator would have had the courage to continue the job. The poet compares the creator to a blacksmith, he thinks about the anvil and the furnace that the project would have required and the smith who could have wielded them. And when the job was done, the speaker wonders, how would the creator have felt? “Did he smile after watchinghis work?” Could this possibly be the same being who made the lamb? The poet asks this question in the end that Creator who created Lamb could possibly create a Tiger.

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