William Blake’s “The Tyger” is the poetic counterpart to the Lamb. It is included in Songs of
Experience. The main theme of the poem is the power of creation.
The poet addresses the Tiger directly. He wonders about who created the Tyger and whether it was
the same Creator that made the Lamb.
The main image is the tyger as seen by Blake’s poetic imagination. Blake’s description is
symbolical; for example, there are no references to the appearance of the animal, particularly to its
striped skin. When he refers to ‘fearful symmetry’, it means that the Tyger is beautiful and
frightening at the same time. There is fire in the tiger’s eyes, this suggests the energy, power and
vitality of the animal. The focus on the tiger’s heart stresses the idea that the animal is a living being
and again hints at its vitality. The reference to the tiger’s brain suggests the animal’s capability to
perceive and react. The author then focuses on the tiger’s ‘deadly terrors’: the tiger is described as
mysterious animal that arouses fear.
Indeed, Blake’s description of the tiger can be associated with the Romantic idea of sublime.
“Deadly terrors” and “fearful symmetry” imply that the tiger is a beautiful but terrifying animal, one
that arouses astonishment, admiration, reverence, respect and fear. That was the very idea of
sublime.
Another powerful figure in the poem is that of the Creator. God is described as a blacksmith that
forges everything in the world: to give that idea the poet uses the images of the “hammer”, “chain”,
“furnace”, and “anvil”. God is described as an immortal and powerful being. He is a God artisan
who works using his strength (hand, shoulder, feet, claps). The work of God cannot be fully
understood by the poet, who is surprised that the same God who created the meek lamb also created
the terrifying tiger. The poem also ends with a question that casts doubt on the possibility of
understanding reality through the senses and reason.
An important element of the poem is the idea that the same God who made the lamb also made the
tiger, so unless it is suggested that God created evil, then the tiger must not be “evil”. The lamb and
the tiger just represent two different sides of God, two different aspects of existence →
complementary opposites.
In Lamb, the poet associated his own power of poetic creation with that of God so in this poem he
could also be associated with the creative power of the blacksmith. The idea of creative power is a
key theme of the poem.
The poem refers to two Greek mythological figures, Icarus (line 7) and Prometheus (line 8). In
Greek mythology Icarus was the son of Daedalus. His father made him wings to escape from Crete,
but he flew too near the Sun; the wax holding the wings melted and he fell into the Aegean Sea.
Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from heaven to help mankind, whom Zeus wished to destroy,
and was punished by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus. Every day an eagle fed on his liver,
which grew again during the night. He was freed by Heracles. These reinforce the idea that creating
the tiger was a daring act.
Form:
Rhyme scheme: AABBCCDDEE (deviation: lines 3-4, 23-24)
Most words are short. The rhythm is fast and hammering, similar to the casting of a spell.
The most important device is the repetition of rhetorical questions. The poem does not provide any
answer to its questions and ends with an unsolved question.
