[66] The Tyger
... dunno what happened to Sunday's poem. Martin?
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, 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?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
-- William Blake
|
Another famous poem which is no less wonderful for being popular... this
is one of the earliest poems I remember being entranced by, and to this
day the magic remains as powerful as it was the first time round.
[Overview]
Published in 1794 as one of the Songs of Experience, Blake's "The Tyger"
is a poem about the nature of creation, much as is his earlier poem from
the Songs of Innocence, "The Lamb." However, this poem takes on the
darker side of creation, when its benefits are less obvious than simple
joys. Blake's simplicity in language and construction contradicts the
complexity of his ideas. This poem is meant to be interpreted in
comparison and contrast to "The Lamb," showing the "two contrary states
of the human soul" with respect to creation. It has been said many times
that Blake believed that a person had to pass through an innocent state
of being, like that of the lamb, and also absorb the contrasting
conditions of experience, like those of the tiger, in order to reach a
higher level of consciousness. In any case, Blake's vision of a creative
force in the universe making a balance of innocence and experience is at
the heart of this poem.The poem's speaker is never defined, and so may
be more closely aligned with Blake himself than in his other poems. One
interpretation could be that it is the Bard from the Introduction to the
Songs of Experience walking through the ancient forest and encountering
the beast within himself, or within the material world. The poem
reflects primarily the speaker's response to the tiger, rather than the
tiger's response to the world.It important to remember that Blake lived
in a time that had never heard of popular psychology as we understand it
today. He wrote the mass of his work before the Romantic movement in
English literature. He lived in a world that was in the opening stages
of the Industrial Revolution, and in the midst of political revolutions
all over Europe and in America. As we look at his work we must in some
way forget many of the ideas about creativity, artists, and human nature
that we take for granted today, and reimagine them for the first time
as, perhaps, Blake did himself. It is in this way that Blake's poetry
has the power to astound us with his insight.
[Construction]
"The Tyger" contains six four-line stanzas, and uses pairs of rhyming
couplets to create a sense of rhythm and continuity. The notable
exception occurs in lines 3 and 4 and 23 and 24, where "eye" is
imperfectly paired, ironically enough, with "symmetry."The majority of
lines in this lyric contain exactly seven syllables, alternating between
stressed and unstressed syllables:
Tyger! / Tyger! / burning / bright . . .
This pattern has sometimes been identified as trochaic tetrameter — four
("tetra") sets of trochees, or pairs of stressed and unstressed
syllables — even though the final trochee lacks the unstressed syllable.
There are several exceptions to this rhythm, most notably lines 4, 20,
and 24, which are eight-syllable lines of iambic tetrameter, or four
pairs of syllables that follow the pattern unstress/stress, called an
iamb. This addition of an unstressed syllable at the beginning of each
of these lines gives them extra emphasis.
[Criticism]
"The Tyger" has long been recognized as one of Blake's finest poems; in
his 1863 Life of William Blake, biographer Alexander Gilchrist relates
that the poem "happens to have been quoted often enough ... to have made
its strange old Hebrew-like grandeur, its Oriental latitude yet force of
eloquence, comparatively familiar" and that essayist and critic Charles
Lamb wrote of Blake: "I have heard of his poems, but have never seen
them. There is one to a tiger ... which is glorious!" In his 1906 work
William Blake: A Critical Essay, British poet and critic Algernon
Charles Swinburne similarly calls the lyric "a poem beyond praise for
its fervent beauty and vigour of music."Many critics have focused on the
symbolism in "The Tyger," frequently contrasting it with the language,
images, and questions of origin presented by its "innocent" counterpart,
"The Lamb." E. D. Hirsch, Jr., for instance, notes that while "The
Tyger" satirizes the lyrics found in "The Lamb" that is not the poem's
primary function. As the critic asserts in his Innocence and Experience:
An Introduction to Blake, in combining tones of terror and awe at a
being that could create the tiger as well as the lamb, the poet
"celebrates the divinity and beauty of the creation and its
transcendance of human good and evil without relinquishing the Keatsian
awareness that 'the miseries of the world Are misery.'" Hazard Adams
believes that the poem demonstrates that "creation in art is for Blake
the renewal of visionary truth." He explains in his 1963 study William
Blake: A Reading of the Shorter Poems that while the tiger may be
terrifying, it presents an intensity of vision that should be welcomed
with "a gaiety which can find a place in the divine plan for both the
tears and spears of the stars, ... and for both the tiger and the
lamb."While 'The Tyger' can be read in a variety of ways, Mark Schorer
asserts in William Blake: The Politics of Vision that "the juxtaposition
of lamb and tiger points not merely to the opposition of innocence and
experience, but to the resolution of the paradox they present." As the
lamb is subjected to the travails of the world, "innocence is converted
to exprience. It does not rest there. Energy can be curbed but it cannot
be destroyed, and when it reaches the limits of its endurance, it bursts
forth in revolutionary wrath." Jerome J. McGann, however, asserts in a
1973 essay that the poem defies specific interpretation: "As with so
many of Blake's lyrics, part of the poem's strategy is to resist
attempts to imprint meaning upon it. "The Tyger" tempts us to a
cognitive apprehension but in the end exhausts our efforts." As a
result, the critic concludes, "the extreme diversity of opinion among
critics of Blake about the meaning of particular poems and passages of
poems is perhaps the most eloquent testimony we have to the success of
his work."
For a very detailed, line-by-line analysis of the poem, do visit
http://www.gale.com/gale/poetry/tyger.html
thomas.
From: BARCELOS ANDREW <psychopath@>
i have a question.
the link @ the bottom of your page of "The Tiger" for a detailed line by
line analysis of the poem. WHY DOESN'T IT WORK!!!!!!!!!
i need help on that poem
i don't understand it at all
plz help me
thank you
psychopath@
From: Abraham Thomas <thomas@>
Sorry, but the link mentioned above doesn't work any more.
t.
From: KlausWillbrandt@ (Klaus Willbrandt)
the link at the bottom of that page is broken, because it has changed...
i found the site at
http://www.gale.com/freresrc/poets_cn/tyger.htm
Greetings
Klaus Willbrandt
From: "MUSATAFak" <MUSATAFak@>
hii
i need the analysis of the poem cause i dont understand it at all
i have a test coming up and the site with the analysis doesnt work
plzzzzzzz do something.
From: "Douglas Birsch" <birsch@>
From: Alex.Andersen@
the correct link for an analysis of the poem has changed into
http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/poets/poems/tyger.htm
Alex Andersen
From: "Isabelle" <dias@>
hi, i've been studying Blake for my lit A-levels, a closed book exam on
both this and 'the Duchess of Malfi'. I think the problem that many of
you are having with this poem is the attempt to understand it, if you
analyse it completely it will loose its magic. Many literary ctritics
far greater than myself have analysed this line-by-line and they have
not come up with a uniform meaning.
One of the most important things to stress is the semantic field of
industry: 'hammer', 'chain' and 'anvil'. The industrial revolution had
just happened in Britain at the time of Blake's writing and you can see
through his nature imagery ,typical of the Romantic poets, in The Songs
of Innocence that it is the countyside and nature which he favours, not
the industrial nature of the city. 'London' is further proof of his
favour towards the countryside.
The Tyger is also both cruel and awe-inspiring for humans, it is this
duplicity that makes the poem so ambiguous but don't over analyse it.
all the best
SARAH
From: "Gary Sawyer" <gsawyer@>
Chaz Parker (amateur and aspiring poet)
chazsp98@
"The Tyger," a beautiful poem. Well-versed and has great symbolism and
meaning!
-chaz
From: PocaPsyko@
thanks for your help from a French student who didn't understand anything of
this poem...
From: beth gourley <bag@>
You will also want to visit the William Blake website. The various
illuminated texts heighten the enjoyment of the text.
http://www.blakearchive.org/cgi-bin/nph-dweb/blake/Illuminated-Book/SONGSIE/songsie.c/@Generic__BookTextView/11007;cv=java#X
--bag
From: "Gerald Knight" <Gerald.Knight1@>
The Tempest
Transposing the earth from mundane to sublime,
The lightning corrodes the night sky.
This virtual stranger, this perfect bolt,
Lashing the air like a knife.
Fragments of black
Sparky, Sporadic.
A fanatical gleam of sienna.
The fathomless sea darkens and swells,
Exulting, unearthly, electric.
The mountains grow purple in the dimming light
Ice-blue streaks and violet fire.
A slither of a moon
A technicolor ghost.
An affinity with the storm
A dissonance of noise and chaos;
Chasing clouds, wild dreams.
The origin of the magic -
Ancient, unknowable.
Illuminating a silver forest
The tumultuous embrace;
An oracle
Bewitching,
Opalescent,
Blazing and deep.
Ultimate Euphoria
Rachel Knight
anyone got any comments on this ? i just finished writing it and need
some input !!
From: "Dorota Laner" <dorota_laner@>
for cat lovers here goes another poem,
:-)
Rainer Maria Rilke
The Panther
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars, and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
-- Rainer Maria Rilke
Der Panther
Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehn der Stäbe
so müd geworden, da=DF er nichts mehr hält.
Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe
und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt.
Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte,
der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht,
ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte,
in der betäubt ein gro=DFer Wille steht.
Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille
sich lautlos auf -. Dann geht ein Bild hinein,
geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille -
und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.
From: "Bradley Bristow-Stagg" <broadmeadows@>
Rachel,
I really enjoyed your poem. Very nice descriptives captured the storm for my minds eye. I don't know if this forum is still going but I would love to read more. A poet myself I submit one of my favs
Dream Sending
Last night did you send to me
A dream of wings, clouds and flying?
I lay upon my bed
And felt your presence descend
Then did I rise unto the very sky.
To soar and float
Among the great wide blue and clouded white
"Are you sending me this dream?
I see you there with your feathered wings.
Regal and sublime."
With gentle smile and knowing release
You sent me soaring to lofty heights
When fall I back gently, on cushions cloudy soft
Landing in your arms, a sweet feeling of peace.
Regards
Bradley
"Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone; let your heart burn with loving-kindness for all who may cross your path"
--The Baha'i Faith > www.bahai.org
--
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From: "Annmaree Mavis-Jean Kernick" <paddyandrusty@>
Just wondering, what would be the Poetic Devices used in this poem?
Regards, Annmaree
From: james marshall <edgarj@>
Dear friend,
Read pp.338-340 of Robert Pirsig's "Lila." Especially the last two
paragraphs of 340.
I think you will find it rewarding.
Have an uplifting day,
Jim
From: Hppyguy31@
The poem lends itself to diferent aspects in life, contemporarily, and in
different arenas, socially and culturally.
From: mary vanderwerken <spruces2002@>
I believe the important point is both he lamb and
tiger where able to survive. the terrible tiger had no
ability to change the course of evolution. the simple
virus has more power than a beast. whatever the plan
divine or chance it has yet to unfold.
__________________________________________________
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From: Y Zhang <fuzhoufj@>
I know how this poem means it is a story about man's bad side and how if the creator would appriciate this kind on behavior or crime and bad people. I don't want to sign my name or email at all.
--Boundary_(ID_UFTC6Nx/LQt3ie/X9HA7lA)
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I know how this poem means it is a story about
man's bad side and how if the creator would appriciate this kind on behavior or
crime and bad people. I don't want to sign my name or email at
all.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_UFTC6Nx/LQt3ie/X9HA7lA)--
From: Y Zhang <fuzhoufj@>
This isn't a cat poem at all dorota I am the same one who wrote comment at the bottom who didn't sign so don't think it's a cat poem 'cause it isn't at all people should know I sign.......
Anonymous
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This isn't a cat poem at all dorota I am the same
one who wrote comment at the bottom who didn't sign so don't
think it's a cat poem 'cause it isn't at all people should know I
sign.......</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
Anonymous </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_mUXjcmhbVnJ4Mlvd4yFH9A)--
From: Y Zhang <fuzhoufj@>
This is another of my unsigned emails. In Danny Phantom in Nickelodeon this is the poem that Danny asks Mr. Blake I think why David Blake rhymes eye and symmetry thank you again all.
Anonymous
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<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> This is another of my unsigned
emails. In Danny Phantom in Nickelodeon this is the poem that Danny asks Mr.
Blake I think why David Blake rhymes eye and symmetry thank you again
all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
Anonymous</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_NHpCvasdZ2SzZcvmu7k9RQ)--
From: Y Zhang <fuzhoufj@>
It's tiger not 'tyger' staff please edit all of this. Thank You
Anonymous
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> It's tiger not 'tyger' staff
please edit all of this. Thank You </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
Anonymous</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_N89nh9pX+WsZf4hB2zVWjg)--
From: 24041@ Mon Apr 25 10:05:54 2005
I want to know how william blake knew about the tigers in those days
From: "Morgan" <daddyslittlesinger@>
Why does he rhyme semitry witheye?
From: "Morgan" <daddyslittlesinger@>
Why does he rhyme semitry witheye?
From: TheCureRockGirl@
This poem. will lose its magic if we keep analyzing it to death.
The meaning of the poem should come from your personal
interpretation.
-Alex
From: "patrick nguyen" <brandnew@>
actually its THE TYGER
From: "Haroon Bhayat" <haroon.bhayat3@>
hi i absolutely luv dis poem.
hawa