"The Tyger"

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 sieze 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 watered 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?

           

This poem begins with Blake asking a fearsome tiger what kind of divine being could have created it: “What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame they fearful symmetry?” Each stanza contains further questions, all of which refine this first one. From where could the tiger’s fiery eyes have come, and who would have dared to handle that fire? What sort of physical presence, and what kind of dark craftsmanship, would have been required to “twist the sinews” of the tiger’s heart? This poem is all questions, when I started reading it I was questioning myself whether I knew what I was reading or not because this poem confused me so much. But once I started reading reviews I understood the poem better and I have less questions. The questions I have are the question that the poem brings up. I get from this poem that the tyger is a symbol of god and his eyes relate to hell. When the poem says “burning bright” it reminds me of hell because the poem talks about fire. There is no fire that I know of in heaven, so my suspicions lead to hell. The tyger initially appears as a sensuous image. However, as the poem progresses, it takes on a symbolized character, and comes to embody the spiritual and moral problem the poem explores, beautiful and yet destructive, Blake’s tiger becomes the symbolized center for an investigation into the presence of evil the world may have. Since the tiger’s remarkable nature exists both in physical terms and moral terms, the speaker’s questions about its origin must also encompass both physical and moral dimensions.