THE TYGER
by
WILLIAM BLAKE
(Summary)
William
Blake was the poet of ‘the age of Dr. Johnson’. This period is also called ‘The
age of transition’. The general characteristics of this age are-
• Decline of the party feud,
• the French revolution,
• renaissance of learning,
• the new realism,
• the rise of middle class and
• the spirit of humanity.
William
Blake was born in 1757 in London. He was a strange imaginative child. Beyond
learning to read and write he received no education. He writes his poetry on
simple themes. Mysticism and lyricism are the major characteristics of his
poetry.
The Tyger
(The
Poem)
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, & what art,
Could
twist the sinews of thy heart?
And
when thy heart began to beat,
What
dread hand? & 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?
In
the poem ‘The Tiger’ Blake conveys that both good and bad elements are present
in this Universe. He means to say that experience is as necessary in the
Universe as Innocence.
The
poet says that Tiger is shining in the forest of night. He is surprised to see
the fearful symmetry of the tiger and says that who the immortal creator of
this tiger is. He further asks another question which expresses his surprise
for the fiery eyes of the tiger. He asks about the place where the creator has
gone to take the fire of its eyes. He is in doubt whether the fire is found in
deeps or skies. He also expresses his surprise on the daring hands that had
seized the fire.
In
the third stanza the poet talks about the making of the tiger. According to him
it must be the power of some supernatural that had shaped its heart and when
the heart began to beat that must be the dreadful hand and dreadful feet. He
then talks about the making of tiger’s brain. For this the creator must have
used the smithy instruments like hammer, chain, furnace and anvil. He says that
when the creation of this fearful creature has been completed the universe
starts moving from light to darkness- “The stars threw down their spears and
watered heaven with their tears”.
In
the last part of this poem the poet again asks a question as whether the
creator of this tiger smiled to see his creation and also whether the creator
of the lamb is the same who has created the tiger. The last stanza of this poem
repeats the thought of the first stanza except the last line of the stanza
where he used ‘dare’ in place of ‘could’.
The
poet has written this poem with 7 syllabic lines, each of one metrical foot.
‘Tiger’ is the symbol of experience, whereas ‘Lamb’ of innocence. The poet has
used concrete images in this poem. Alliteration and rhyming couplet have also
been used. Adjectives are in abundance in ‘The Tiger’
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