The Tyger

William Blake’s “The Tyger” utilizes a series of rhetorical questions about the tiger’s creator to explore much larger, mystical parts of existence and the delicate balance of life. Primarily concerned and confused by the existence of such a fearsome creature, the speaker wonders at the God who could have created the tiger. The speaker, much like Blake himself, seems to understand the creative process for making art. He is less concerned with the violence or evil of the tiger and more with the intentions and artistic technique of the creator, or God. The speaker is attempting to reconcile the idea of a loving and omniscient God with the creation and allowance of violence and evil. However, the many questions throughout the poem do not actively seek answers. Instead, the poem is attempting to marvel at these mysteries, positioning the speaker’s confusion as a universal experience of the human condition. Some questions have no answers, as there are some things humans cannot hope to understand. For Blake, this is an expression of God’s divinity. God’s work requires dualities, contradictions, and opposing forces. A God who creates both the lamb and the tiger suggests that there is divine purpose in both good and evil, darkness and light.

The poem opens with the refrain, “Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night” (Lines 1-2), and proceeds to address the fearsome tiger directly for the rest of the poem, meditating on the tiger’s existence. The speaker repeatedly associates the tiger with fire, which creates both an image of the tiger’s bright orange fur as well as the tiger’s fiery temper and explosive power. The tiger is both beautiful and terrifying. The speaker then expresses interest in the creator of the tiger and the creative process: “What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (Lines 3-4). The speaker’s diction is deliberately artistic in nature. Referring to the “hand or eye” that “frame[s]” the tiger positions the creator as an artist, having an eye for framing the landscape and making purposeful artistic choices.

In contemplating the creator so intensely, the speaker drifts to mystical interpretations of God, envisioning both his creative process and where he creates his art, perhaps in “distant deeps or skies” (Line 5). The preoccupation with God elevates the tiger to an almost mythological creature. The tiger’s power influences the speaker’s depictions of God, implying that the creator must be even greater than his creation: “On what wings dare he aspire? / What the hand, dare seize the fire?” (Lines 7-8). Here, the speaker is describing God as a winged creature, daring and heroic.

The next stanza concerns the labor of the creative process. The speaker describes the effort and craftsmanship of the tiger’s creator: “And what shoulder, & what art” (Line 9). However, the speaker also notes the creator’s technical skill and perception, calling attention to the precision of the tiger’s creations: “Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” (Line10). Once again, as if all these images are piling up on one another, the speaker returns to speculating the presence of such a creator. The speaker describes the creator’s hands and feet as dreadful in appearance: “What dread hand? & what dread feet?” (Line 12). The speaker is afraid of the creator, depicting God’s hands as terrifying. As fearsome as the tiger is to the speaker, he is much more focused on God, the tiger’s fearsome creator. With each new detail, the speaker becomes more afraid of the creator and the decision to create such an animal in the first place.

In the next stanza, the speaker associates the creator with imagery concerning the moment of the tiger’s creation, expanding on the themes of craftsmanship and artistry discussed in the previous stanza. The speaker envisions God as a blacksmith or an ironworker, forging the tiger’s brain in a furnace and sculpting the tiger’s body with a hammer and chain. He says, “What the hammer? what the chain, / In what furnace was thy brain?” (Lines 13-14). Even the following line mentions an anvil: “What the anvil? what dread grasp,” (Line 15). The imagery of this stanza is no doubt influenced by the Industrial Revolution that was changing the landscape of the world. It is interesting that the speaker associates the tiger, a creature of nature and the earth, with this bustling industry. This paradox emphasizes the sheer power of the tiger, not unlike the powerful steam engines fueling the technological revolution. It also positions God and nature in harmony with the unnatural and stark reality of industry and technology, reinforcing the earlier notion that God governs both good and evil, darkness and light, industry and nature.

The speaker drifts into mythology and mysticism in the fifth stanza, describing an event where “the stars threw down their spears / And water’d heaven with their tears” (Lines 17-18). This ambiguous allusion is most likely intended to reference the rebellion of Satan and his angel allies against God. Blake was inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost, which describes this biblical event and details a moment when the rebellious angels admit their defeat and throw down their weapons. This line suggests that the creation of the tiger is a demonstration of God’s might and power. The next line ponders whether God was pleased with this mighty and terrifying creature: “Did he smile his work to see?” (Line 19). In a much larger sense, the line is asking whether God delights in his violent creations, attempting to understand the divine reasoning behind inventing such evil, especially alongside such pure innocence like the lamb: “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (Line 20). This is the poem’s central tension. It is easy for the speaker to envision God creating the innocent lamb, but the speaker struggles to accept that the same God could also create the violent tiger.

The last stanza of the poem repeats the first stanza almost verbatim, with one key difference: Instead of “Could” (Line 4), the speaker uses the word “Dare” (Line 24). By the time the speaker returns to the place he started, he has a new understanding of God. The speaker views God as powerful and more fearsome than the tiger he created. Pondering these many questions about the existence of good and evil has reframed creation as something terrifying; the speaker has encountered a force beyond his comprehension. The change from the word “could” to “dare” demonstrates a greater understanding of God’s power as both beautiful and terrifying.