The Power of "The Tyger"

Have you ever had the opportunity to observe a tiger in person? Whether they are in a zoo or out in the wild, tigers are magnificent creatures filled with beauty and mystery. Their power is conveyed not only in the fiery color of their fur, but also in their eyes. It is almost as if they should be in stories filled with mythological creatures rather than co-existing with human beings. Yet something filled with so much wonder can also be filled with danger. Their menacing size along with their sharp teeth and claws can be a deadly combination. William Blake attempts to harness that power and danger in his poem, “The Tyger.”
The poem begins with the line, “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright.” This one line represents the entire tone of the poem, and in fact, it is the first word that holds it. “Tyger!” is such a powerful word, not unlike its meaning. Through the use of an exclamation mark at the end of this one word, Blake emphasizes the strength and intensity that characterizes the animal. In addition to this, the word “tyger” is spelled with differently, which adds more mystery to the creature. The “burning bright” serves as an image of the tiger actually being on fire, as if it can control the element itself, and the “forests of the night the night,” that follows the line allows for a beautiful contrast. Blake then asks the question, “What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?” This brings up the issue that the “tyger” was not created in the same form that other animals were made. The second stanza of the poem follows and goes on to end with, “What the hand dare seize the fire?” The last line of the first stanza and this one are very similar. They both acknowledge the power that the tiger controls. Not only that, but it also serves to question who is brave enough to harness the force that is drawn into every living fiber of the “tyger”.
The third stanza moves away from the nature aspect of the first two stanzas, and more towards anatomical structures. The stanza incorporates the words, “shoulder”, “sinews of thy heart”, “hand”, and “feet” to establish the appearance not only of the “tyger” but of a human as well. It seems as if mankind is trying to take control of the power that the “tyger” holds. As the poem moves forward, the setting is now a complete industrialized area rather than the natural one it was before man moved into the picture. Then one finds that mankind is building his own “tyger”; an unnatural and deviant beast. What is even stranger is that rather than making statements, Blake uses questions to convey his poem to the reader. “What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp? Dare its deadly terrors grasp?” One could go as far as to compare this to the questions of a young child. Yet clearly there is a great contrast between an innocent child and the almost foreign mechanism. An ironic aspect to the poem is that this “innocent child” that the questions portray will one day grow up to become the very thing it has been compared against. Both the contrast and the similarity between the two are particularly important to note since much of the poem is based on upon the both.
The final two stanzas of the poem move back towards nature and away from the industrial world. There is one part in the fifth stanza that stands out from the rest only because it is so obscure. “Did he smile to see his work? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” While at first it seems as if Blake it asking if God truly did make the “tyger”, but if one were to take a closer look at the quote, one could see that the word lamb is capitalized, giving new meaning to the term. In Christianity, the word Lamb is most often associated with Jesus Christ, and when one takes another look at the poem, one can see that Blake is actually asking if the same God that made Jesus made mankind as well. In the poem, humans are so far from nature and geared towards a strange and complex world, that it is almost impossible understand how mankind came from the same creator that made something so pure. Blake then ends the poem with the same words he started with, which are, “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye dare frame they fearful symmetry.” Not only does this allow for a sort of closure in the poem, but it also makes one reevaluate the poems entire meaning and the author’s purpose.
Although one can find the raw energy and strength that Blake is trying to portray in each of the stanzas of the poem, one must read the entire poem in order to fully comprehend Blake’s message to the reader. In allowing the tension to build in the first few stanzas and then reach a grand climax, Blake is almost comparing the poem to the attack of a tiger. Power builds up in every fiber of the animal’s muscle until it finally takes down its kill, and in this case, the kill is the reference that humans exist so much more differently than everything else that has a life. In conclusion, Blake is able to harness the power and danger that he needed and combine it to create, “The Tyger”.