...The Tyger-William Blake I chose the poem “The Tyger” by William blake to showcase that this poem shows how different sound devices contribute to the meaning of this poem. In “The Tyger” William Blake essentially questions god and his nature, using the tiger as the grounds for his examination. In the first quatrain, the line "what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?" refers to why god would create such a creature both good and evil? This poem has a heavy rhyme scheme and consists of the last words in two consecutive lines rhyming. For Example, William Blake writes “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?” The meter is regular throughout the poem and every end syllable is stressed which gives it a consistent rhythm. The rhyme pattern and the meter also give the poem a rhythmic beat, which almost sounds like a heart beating This poem also distributes alliteration. Alliteration sates that in a poem there is a repetition of a certain letter. In this case the author writes “Tyger Tyger! Burning bright” and also “In what distant deeps or skies” the caesura used between these words and the alliteration ties them together thus making readers pay more attention to the words written in the poem. Assonance is used in this poem as well to emphasize the greatness of God such as in “twist the sinews”. There are two different sounds in the poem. By using poetic devices...
Words: 619 - Pages: 3
...As an online William Blake fan, I receive at least one request per month from students asked to interpret William Blake's wonderful lyric, "The Tyger." The contrast with "The Lamb" is obvious. ("Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?" The answer is God, who became incarnate as Jesus the Lamb.) "The Tyger" asks, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" And the answer is, "Yes, God made the Tyger too." To understand "The Tyger" fully, you need to know Blake's symbols. One of the central themes in his major works is that of the Creator as a blacksmith. This is both God the Creator (personified in Blake's myth as Los) and Blake himself (again with Los as his alter-ego.) Blake identified God's creative process with the work of an artist. And it is art that brings creation to its fulfillment -- by showing the world as it is, by sharpening perception, by giving form to ideas. Blake's story of creation differs from the Genesis account. The familiar world was created only after a cosmic catastrophe. When the life of the spirit was reduced to a sea of atoms, the Creator set a limit below which it could not deteriorate farther, and began creating the world of nature. The longer books that Blake wrote describe Los's creation of animals and people within the world of nature. One particularly powerful passage in "Milton" describes Los's family weaving the bodies of each unborn child. In believing that creation followed a cosmic catastrophe and a fall of spiritual...
Words: 1542 - Pages: 7
...The Lamb The poem begins with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” The speaker, a child, asks the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding, its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.” In the next stanza, the speaker attempts a riddling answer to his own question: the lamb was made by one who “calls himself a Lamb,” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. The poem ends with the child bestowing a blessing on the lamb. The poem is a child’s song, in the form of a question and answer. The first stanza is rural and descriptive, while the second focuses on abstract spiritual matters and contains explanation and analogy. The child’s question is both naive and profound. The question (“who made thee?”) is a simple one, and yet the child is also tapping into the deep and timeless questions that all human beings have, about their own origins and the nature of creation. Yet by answering his own question, the child converts it into a rhetorical one, thus counteracting the initial spontaneous sense of the poem. The answer is presented as a puzzle or riddle, and even though it is an easy one child’s play, this also contributes to an underlying sense of ironic knowingness in the poem. The child’s answer, however, reveals his confidence in his simple Christian faith and his innocent acceptance of its teachings. The lamb of course symbolizes Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus as a lamb underscores...
Words: 785 - Pages: 4
...Connor Davis Mrs. Jill Ross British Lit. 10 March 2015 When I read the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake I was immediately intrigued by the vocabulary used in the poem and how every word in the poem has an analogical meaning. While reading this poem I enjoyed how fluent the rhymes used made it sound, but I struggled a lot to find the meaning of this poem, It literally took me about 1 whole year to be able to find the actual meaning. After analyzing this poem I know realize how there is not a single person that doesn’t make a mistake, even the creator of this world makes mistakes. In the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake, the author uses the metaphor “what immortal hand could frame thy fearful symmetry.” This metaphor helps you understand the theme, but first you need understand the metaphor, and to understand the metaphor you need to understand the meaning of the words. First when he says “immortal” he is talking about god, and when he says “fearful symmetry” he is basically saying fearful world, and he expresses how this world is full of ugly unnecessary things like war. These words help me understand the theme because now I know the metaphor is saying why would god create such a fearful world and the theme is “everyone makes mistakes including god” so this metaphor helps you understand how the author is trying to say that the world has many mistakes made by god. Another Poetry device used in the poem is Abstract and Concrete language. In this poem it is very...
Words: 659 - Pages: 3
...The Tyger by William Blake The main character of “The Tyger” is William Blake, who is the poet himself and is speaking his thoughts about the world in which he lives. All throughout the poem, William questions the tiger to determine if the creator is demonic or godlike. His tone of voice gives the impression that he has a forceful, and demanding personality. The majority of poem consists of him proposing questions and demanding answers from the tiger. He analyzes that the relationship between conflicting states of the human soul to be mutually dependent to the other, which are beneficial to the progression of humanity. The poem reflects on the William’s reaction to the tiger. In the beginning of the poem, William Blake witnesses a living tiger, walking brightly as fire through the forest in the night. He panics and exaggerates the description of the animal when he writes, ‘Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright, in the forests of the night.” The tiger is depicted in a strikingly graphic manner due to the contrast between fire and night. This imagery creates a scene of a mysterious environment in which the tiger is lurking. This implies that the tiger has a mysterious presence but then supports that idea by describing the tiger as “Burning Bright,” representing ferociousness and having the power to do anything. The tiger is capable of doing unknown goods and evils. After seeing the tiger, he immediately asks who would have the courage to create it in the first place, “What immortal...
Words: 918 - Pages: 4
...me of the quaint Japanese figurines called 'daruma,' after the name of the supposed founder of Zen. These strangely conceived pieces of pottery represent the catalytic impact of Zen insight into the fundamental oneness of nature: the piercing look or glance is meant to penetrate into our being and shock us into an awareness that life is everywhere and inner wisdom immanent. Like the tiger awaiting its chance to spring, so is the 'true face' inside the mask of our daily personality ready to make itself known -- all it needs is the opportunity. We alone can give it that opening by letting go of our possessions: the accumulations of lifetimes of self-service and self-seeking. Blake's famous poem The Tyger, written about 1793, conveys the same impersonal fire and strength: 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 sides Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? We need to bear in mind that Blake entered into a stream of ancient wisdom-knowledge that had had to flow underground ever since the dogmas of the church councils were imposed upon European culture. He imparted his own patina of meaning to the visions and concepts he derived from his researches, and one of these was the duality manifest throughout nature: on the one hand, the creator of physical existence or 'Workman'; and on the other, the divine Source or Consciousness...
Words: 875 - Pages: 4
...The poem “The Tyger” by William Blake builds on the conventional idea that nature is a form of art work, and the creator must resemble the art work. The tiger is beautiful, yet it can inflict an incredible amount of power and violence. The speaker says “what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry” (line4)? The speaker asks who could of creature such a creature and every stanza after follows with more questions. The speaker wonders how the Tyger’s heart began to beat and how the creator had the courage to finish the job. The speaker asks if the creator smiled once he saw his work. Something that seems so simple can be so diverse and complex. The author uses diction and them to get his point across. In the story “The Tyger”...
Words: 1291 - Pages: 6
...2014 Enc1102 The Lamb and The Tyger In William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience we are shown a comparison of nature. The innocent ‘lamb’ and the ferocious ‘Tyger’ are designed to be interpreted in comparison with each other. In the poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," William Blake uses symbolism, tone, and rhyme to express the theme that God can create good and bad creatures. The poem "The Lamb" was in Blake's "Songs of Innocence," which was published in 1789.While, "The Tyger," was in his "Songs of Experience," which was published in 1794. Blake's lamb and tiger symbolize two opposite views of God: the creator of good and evil. In "The Lamb," Blake uses the symbol of the lamb to paint a picture of innocence. The lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The poem begins with the question, Little Lamb who made Thee?” the speaker, a child, asks the lamb about its origins and who provided him with life, food, clothes, his “tender voice”. Then the Lamb answers his own questions: “He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb.” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. A lamb is a very meek and mild creature, which could be why Blake chose to use this animal to describe God's giving side. He even refers to God as being meek and mild in line fifteen: "He is meek, and he is mild." And then goes on and sends his blessings. In this poem, Blake wants to shows all the good things created by god. In ‘The Tyger’ Blake describes the tiger as being...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
..."The Tyger" and "The Lamb" by William Blake, written in 1794 included both of these poems in his collection Songs of Innocence and Song of Experience, takes readers on a journey of faith. Through a cycle of unanswered questions, William Blake motivates the readers to question God. These two poems are meant to be interpreted in a comparison and contrast. They share two different perspectives, those being innocence and experience. To Blake, innocence is not better than experience. Both states have their good and bad sides. "The Tyger" is basically the negative reciprocal of "The Lamb" because it challenges God. The main question that Blake is asking in the two poems is that how can the same God make such a vicious animal and also make such an innocent animal. God created all creatures great and small, and he could not have created two creatures more different from each other than the lamb and the tiger. The lamb and the tiger are just vehicles for Blake to express what he feels happens to people as they grow, develop and eventually become perverted by the world around them. In the poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," William Blake uses symbolism, figurative language, and regiloious questioning to advance or evoke the theme that God can create good and bad creatures. "The Lamb" is from Songs of Innocence. In choosing a lamb for the subject, Blake immediately establishes this poem of innocence as a religious. "The lamb is made by Christ and is an obvious symbol of the mild and gentle...
Words: 1430 - Pages: 6
...“The Tyger” by William Blake is a lyric poem that depicts the nature of the creator and his creations. The poem is more about the creator of the tyger than it is about the tyger. In contemplating the terrible ferocity and awe-inspiring symmetry of the tyger, the speaker is at a loss to explain how the same God who made the meek, innocent lamb could create a horrifying creature such as the tyger. This essay will provide a detailed analysis of William Blake’s “The Tyger” paying particular attention, firstly to the extended metaphor in stanza’s 2, 3 and 4, secondly, to the poetic significance of repetition, in particular to the phrase “fearful symmetry”, thirdly, to the role that the rhythm and metre play in creating an urgent need to address the succession of the questions and lastly, the evocation of the sublime emotion of terror in Blake’s depiction of the Tyger. Firstly, the extended metaphor in stanza’s 2, 3 and 4, is comparing the creator and his creation of the Tyger to a blacksmith and his creations. A blacksmith that makes use of tools, such as the “Hammer,” “chain,” ”furnace,” and “anvil” in creating objects out of hot metal. The blacksmith represents a conventional image of artistic creation; here Blake applies it to the divine creation of the natural world. This is evident in L5:”In what distant deeps or skies”, refers to an otherworldly (“distant”) place, perhaps a kind of hell (“deeps”) or Heaven (“skies”). The “distant deeps or skies” bring to mind the concept...
Words: 1232 - Pages: 5
... The Tyger, written by British poet, William Blake he chooses Tyger versus Lamb to develop a sense of strength versus frailty. How these two animals, who are the complete opposite of each other, could possibly have been made by the same creator. William Blake does this by using imagery, symbolism and repetition in this poem. By looking deeper into this poem, I will emphasize these points and provide evidence to support these ideas. By seeing the Tyger as big and ferocious and the Lamb as small and innocent the perception of opposition is created. Blake refers to the Tyger as a fearsome beast by writing “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests night,” as well as “In what distant deeps or skies burnt the fire of thine eyes?” The color contrast of the Tyger and its eyes that shine in the night reflect the image of fiery and strong. Further in the poem the lamb makes an appearance when Blake writes, “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” asking the reader to consider that the same creator made both creatures. “When the stars threw down their spears and watered heaven with their tears,” reveals that the lamb was made of another element, water. The speaker then refers to fire once again when additionally in the poem, Blake describes how the Tyger is created. Using the image of a Blacksmith to portray the creator by using such words as “hammer”, “chain”, and “anvil” to give readers this illusion. Another form William Blake uses is symbolism. The symbol of the Tyger is one...
Words: 558 - Pages: 3
...The Tyger, written in 1974, is one of both simplicity and mystery. Within this poem written by old English William Blake, there are 13 full questions within this short 24 line work. Though many literary analysts have attempted to forge a meaning from this work, not one theme has a more correct stance than any of the others. One clear symbol within the piece is the Tyger, who represents some form of evil entity, quite possibly Satan himself. One possibility for the theme is that the poet is questioning why God would create such an evil being. This can be exemplified in the first stanza and last stanzas, where the word “could” is changed to “dare”, implying a fear of such haunting creature. The questions themselves can be considered sound devices, as they cause the piece to be written in a fragment-type state, as the only constant in this piece is its meter. The poem has a great flow, with there being approximately two strong syllables per line, for example, in line 13: "What the hammer? What the chain?”, where the two heavy syllables are “hammer” and “chain”. This creates a sense of strength halfway through each line, and at the end of each, and gives it a great sense of metric value. There are very few metric variations within the piece, with the only apparent one being the variation in line 19: “Did he smile his work to see? “. This gives the work a sense of superficiality and lack of depth due to its consistency. At some points in the poem it takes on a hymn-like quality...
Words: 977 - Pages: 4
...The Tyger by William Blake In the poem The Tyger” by William Blake, there are many different sound devices used to help the poet convey the theme of the poem; good and evil. William Blake follows an AABB rhyme scheme, helping to give the effect of two ideas (in this case, good and evil). This rhyming style is the first thing you would notice while reading this poem and it helps give the poem unity and makes it an easier read to follow. It is easily noticeable when lines fall out of the rhythmic pattern, an example of this is when Blake rhymed “eye” with “symmetry”. With the use of apostrophes, the poem acknowledges the use of an unseen force that created this creature. Blake has a number of rhetorical questions in this poem, mostly asking why this unseen force would ever create a creature this evil. He questions why this force would want to include both good and evil in this world. Another poetic device used in this poem is onomatopoeia. This is used when Blake writes the line “And when thy heart began to beat”. Since this poet used the word “beat” in context with the word “heart” you can imagine the sound of a heart beating while reading this poem, giving it a larger effect. Repetition is a large device used in this poem. In the first stanza the poet writes “What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” and this is repeated in the last stanza, with one word changed -could is changed to dare. He changes those two words to add to the intensity of this poem. By...
Words: 347 - Pages: 2
...The Tyger William Blake 1. Blake compares the creator of the Tyger to a blacksmith. Blake is pondering which tools were used to create the Tyger and suggests a hammer, a chain, a furnace and an anvil. In this poem he uses an Iambic rhythm through-out the poem. Iambic rhythms are simple and steady, much like the motions a Blacksmith uses. 2. Blake is referring to Heaven and Hell when he writes "deeps" and "skies". Lines 1 through 4 had me thinking about God. When I read the second stanza the words "wings" and "seize the fire" suggested that the author was asking if the Tyger was created in Heaven or Hell. Also, Blake is known for his biblical views and thoughts. 3. In lines 17 and 18, personification is used. "When the stars threw down their spears, And water'd heaven with their tears". Stars cannot throw spears and they do not have tears to cry. 4. Through-out the poem Blake makes us wonder about the Tyger and its creation, just as he does as he goes through the poem by asking the following questions: Who made you?, How were you made? Where? Why? What was the person or thing like that made you? In the first stanza the question of “What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”. The second stanza questions the Tyger and where he was created. The third stanza asks about how he was made, the fourth asks what tools were used to make him. The fifth stanza asks if the creator was pleased with his work, pleased with his creation, and who the...
Words: 516 - Pages: 3
...William Blake “the Tyger” "The Tyger In this counterpart poem to “The Lamb” in Songs of Innocence Blake offers another view of God through His creation. Whereas the lamb implied God's tenderness and mercy, the tiger suggests His ferocity and power. In the poem ‘The Tyger” by William Blake written in 1794 William Blake utilizes quatrains in a fairytale like structure to highlight the triumphant human awareness in this hymn of purity. Blake lived a very religious life “The Blakes were dissenters and believed to have belonged to the Moravian Church.” I believe this influenced blakes life because the tiger in the poem “The Tyger” symbolizes how soft and cute it is, then tells it that God made it and how wonderful that is. This also influenced blake to question religion, politics, poetry itself, history, science, and philosophy. Even today “The Tyger” is read today “elementary students read it because it rhymes and it talks about tiger and high school students read it because of the difficulty”. The poem is very helpful and inspirational for both students and adults. “The tyger” was published with a series of poems called the “songs of experience” in 1794. Blake wrote these poems during the radical period which was a time of passion and imagination. The passion and imagination were the things that influenced blake to write. William blake uses alliteration in the poem “ Tyger Tyger burning bright” he uses it with the t’s and the b’s. The poem consists of six...
Words: 602 - Pages: 3
