Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forest 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 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?
Notes
From Blake's original notes it can be see that he intended the line, 'What dread hand? And what dread feet,' to run into another verse, which he cancelled out heavily...
What dread hand? and what dread feet.
Could fetch it from the furnace deep,
And in thy horrid ribs dare steep
In the well of sanguine woe
In what clay & in what mould
Were thy eyes of fury rolld
What/where hammer what/where the chain
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Comments
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cool
From guest Caitlin (contact)
I think this is a lovely song especially since we are learning it at millennium middle in our chorus.His work is amazing and i think people should appreciate it alot more. The lyrics are so deep and it takes a lot of brain power to comprehend them. -
This is a world-wide famous
Poem, I remeber taking it when I was a kid of 10-12 years old..
It's what opened my eyes to poetry ..
Blake is an inspiratonal poet indeed.
He tends to pours into simplicity more, yet his simple words mark his supremacy. -
Help
From guest katrina (contact)
help me i have to analyze this extremely complicated poem and i'm in eighth grade!!! -
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Guest Katrina,
I am sure your teacher intended you to do the lion's share of the work. Having read the poem (and other people's comments) think about who Blake was addressing? who's immortal hand do you think he is refering to?
Do you think he did a good job in dividing up the poem (punctuation) to maintain the rhythm? did the rhyme work?
Why not add your opinion as a comment here and see what response other people have to what you write.
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The Tyger
From guest nadia (contact)
The images of Tyger recur in prophetic book, dut in the poem detached from any very specific context, have special strength & freedom.The tyger Blake's symbol of fierce forces in soul which are needed to break the bonds of experience. -
I should probably have something more productive to do than this, shouldn't I?
From guest Jimmy Ray (contact)
I'm currently studying Blake at A-Level and it's the first thing I have done in English (except for shakespeare obviously) that I have truly loved, and when researching I came across some of the comments here and found them a little simplistic, so for the other A-Levelers... The questions in this poem makes it clear, nothing has made the tiger, "What the anvil? What the Chain?" these are questions of disbelief, he's not actually asking to see the objects is he? This means that the Tiger has not been made. He is trying to convey that it his power to imagine the tiger which is truly frightening. Anyway read "Night", it is ambiguous whether the angels are weeping for the defenceless prey, or for the wolves and tigers who have it in their nature to attack them, you cannot blame the tiger which is naturally aggresive for his violent actions. Then read "augaries of innocence" "to see the world in a grain of sand" it is clear that Blakes poetry is about perseption. The real horror of the poem is that he can percieve that something as evil as this could be created. Now look at the contextual evidence, remember that this poem was written at the time of "The Terrors" in France where the revolutionaries were comitting attrocities, this affected Blake, like all Romantics deeply, who had seen their idealistic communtistic utopia in action disintergate into an oppresive regime. Remember, with Blake there is always more than meets the eye, he just didn't write simple easy to understand poetry. -
Excellent piece
This poetic artist knew how to capture passionate words in verses of nature's many facets. His style is unique in that it's rather unmetered yet the beat of each line is so profound as to not matter.~Suseann -
blake`s concept of symmetry
From guest moinakdutta (contact)
the poem is demontrative of blake`s firm assertion on the coexistence of the opposites in God or Godhead.tiger is symbolic of rage,agony and valour.the persistence of the image of fire being alluded with the tiger is ,though not unexpected, but yet to be fully tapped.the poem being so much akin to the Holy Bible,remains highly inspirational.it is reminiscient of the great hindu dictum of the arrival of the God in his cruelest form to cause dreads in the hearts of the evil. -
This poem, to me, is beautiful not only because it is melodic, but because it is ironic. It starts off questioning who could be so powerful as to make something so perfectly fierce. Then, as the poem goes on, it leads you into wondering what power WOULD make something so VICIOUS. What foul things did it take to make the tyger and is our fate really in the hands of one who would create such a thing? You know, with that lamb running around...it seems so cruel. Why would this happen? But that's just it. We dont know. That is why this poem, to me, is about faith. Faith in the belief that the one who is behind creation knew what he was doing in putting preditor and prey together. Faith that his smile was well-warranted.
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God, Maker of the Tyger -- And the Lamb?
"Tyger" speaks about the seemingly unknowable mind and purpose of God.
Why would He who created the lamb, the most mild and gentle creature, also create a tiger, a ferocious, flame-like animal that would devour the lamb if it could get anywhere near: "Did he how made the lamb make thee?" says the bewildered, frightened inquisitor.
Yes. How frightening, how incomprehensible, how frighteningly imcomprehensible if he "smiled" upon finishing his creation. -
God, maker of the Tyger -- And the Lamb?
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This poem seems on one level to be about a tiger, but could also be about the Industrial Revolution. Words such as 'anvil', 'hammer' and 'chain' seem to be quite mechanical to me. Of course, Blake was living during the Industrial Revolution and, I feel, he disliked this. This was a poem in the Songs of Experience which gives it a darker overtone, than say the poems in Songs of Innocence. 'The Lamb' (I think that's it's name- 'Little lamb who made thee') seems very much connected with this poem- both are about creation, and especially the line 'Did He who made the lamb make thee?' connects it. Unlike 'The Lamb' it doesn't give any direct answers, although both questions ask questions. This shows a loss of innocence and contentment with simple answers, I felt. The imagery here is very dark, 'fire', 'spears' and 'tears' for instance. This gives a dark feel to the poem.
Pozo
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A True Classic
I have loved this poem ever since I read it in Sixth Grade, and I didn't understand it until analyzing it in College. Though I don't think it's his best work, I do have great affection for it, and him. And to whoever said that he/she would pan this if it were posted today on allpoetry, and having never been written before--wow-- well, you should really eat those words because this is TIMELESS! I recommend Blake's books, Songs Of Innocense, and its sequel, Songs Of Experience to anyone who hasn't read them. Blake was a voice for the oppressed, particularly the children who were forced into child labor (read the Chimney Sweeper). He is one of the greatest poets with the biggest hearts, full of compassion for the common folk. With sincereity, David -
AMAZING!!!
I've always loved this poem, since we studied it at school about 4 years ago...
I've always remembered the first stanza and kept muttering it to myself... but to reread the poem now.. well.. I LOVE IT MORE THAN EVER!!!
It still has this magical feeling of a tiger (and I LOVE TIGERS!)
The opening stanza was really amazing, and as you go on reading, you realize you can not stop and when the poem is finished, you want to start reading it over again!!
This is my favourite poem by Blake
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oh oh oh i just adore tigers! this is awsome and i would like it if you would read some of my poetry at allpoetry.com/poets/calvinplanet
i hope you like.
Calvin -
i love Blake and i love his poetry.
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I have always loved this poem since I first read it in one of my mom's poem books that she bought. It was the first poem I ever memorized.
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I first read this on the front page of the Atwater-Rhodes novel "In the Forests of the Night" and since then I've been completely in love with it...it is my favorite poem hands down.
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I have always loved this poem, and it ties in so well with the Amelia Atwater-Rhodes novel as everyone else has mentioned.
I just can't remember, was it In the Forests of the Night, or Demon in my View?
~Jessica~
dangerous-angel
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I saw the first verse of this in a calvin and hobbes cartoon, where they said something about the tiger bursting into flames- lol. and then I saw it again in the front of the Amelia Atwater Rhodes novel, this time the whole poem and I love it. it's so beautiful...
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great great stuff. i jsut found this in my school book today (since i was looking through it and not doing work...). great stuff.
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I remember memorizing this poem in middle school! I loved it so much. Its just got such a great rhyme and flow to it.
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This poem is very melodious for me because it's the expression of a particular mood of the human nature.
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I love this poem____ it gives me a sort of inner joy. Same feelings when I read “the lamb” by this wonderful poet_ W. Blake. The flow of this poem is excellent___ the subject is very simple and amazing___ especially for those who love wild life…like me.
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Hey, I love this poem.
:-) -
Hey Your website is the best and this is my favorite poem ever!
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Hey, I love this poem.
:-) -
i have loved this poem since i first saw it in the front of one of amelia atwater rhoads novels
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First read this in fourth grade. I liked it but didn't understand it until later. It seems like the speaker's puzzling about evil (the devil being the "tyger"). "Did he who made the lamb make thee?"--Did God create the devil too?
Edited on Apr 20, 5:54 p.m. because 'my monkey typed it for me.'. -
hot
hi, um, i like william blake, i love the fly, the tyger, little boy lost, little girl found. he rocks ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -
oh god, i love this poem! we had to memorize a poem for english class in 8th grade and i immediately went to this. i can still recite it. love it, love it, love it!
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I love this poem! I read it in a book called In The Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhod
es...It's not a book of poetry, but it starts with one so you know what the story's about. Anyway, I was hooked when I saw it...
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
&
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
those are my fave lines... great poem
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Excellent!!
This is like my favourite poem of William Blake!!! It rhyms and sounds good!
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ive always loved this poem, and william blake.
wondering if anyone knows the name of this poem:
"to see the world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wildflower
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and infinity in an hour"
that was my fav poem for years but i never knew its name..help! u can leave a note on my allpoetry diary, .flit
thanx! -
neutral
Thanks for this. I lost the words & needed them to submit an entry to a craft comp. (Depicting a fav. poem). Not relevant to this site............ -
Why is it taught to children? Sure, the rhyme scheme is simple and it's very rhythmic with the nearly unbroken trochaic, but for meaning it's nowhere NEAR a kids' poem!
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The Tyger was one of my first favorite poems. "Tyger, Tyger!Burning bright/In the forests of the night..." is simply beautiful.
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wonderful
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Simply incredible
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One of my favorite poems about modern man. "What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"
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