The Tyger
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"The Tyger" is a famous poem by the English poet William Blake. The poem was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience and was written sometime around 1794. It is one of Blake's best known and most analysed poems.
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[edit] Themes
[edit] Gnosticism
In both form and subject the poem closely follows his earlier work "The Lamb" that was part of his Songs of Innocence collection. He references this work in the fifth stanza with the question "Did He who made the lamb make thee?". While "The Lamb" lauded a noble and gentle God, "The Tyger" looks at the God who created death and misery in the world. The poem is an exploration of Gnostic thought, which very much interested Blake. This is heavily inspired by the works of John Milton, of whom Blake sometimes considered himself a successor. The lines "On what wings dare he aspire?/What the hand dare seize the fire?" can be seen as a reference to the story of Prometheus or that of Paradise Lost and begins the speculation that Lucifer may also have played a role in creating the universe. The lines from the fifth stanza "When the stars threw down their spears/ And watered heaven with their tears," are also often considered to be a reference to Paradise Lost. Critical attention has often been drawn to "the arrival of a Great Fiery meteor"³ over London in the summer of 1783, undoubtedly interpreted by Blake as a Gnostic symbol of divine presence and fertility.
[edit] Industrialization
Blake was one of the most noted Romantic poets and like them he saw the pastoral country side as idyllic and viewed industrialization as a blight. "The Tyger" uses many images of the industrial world: fire, hammers, anvils, and furnaces all convey an image of the "satanic mills" of the nineteenth century.
[edit] Experience
"The Tyger" was published as a part of Songs of Experience and the poem can also be seen as dealing with the growing knowledge of the world as one ages. While "The Lamb" is grounded in the pastoral settings of Blake's youth "The Tyger" is set in the industrialized modernity. "The Tyger" reflects a knowledge that evil exists in the world and that benevolence is not omnipresent.
Similarly, the Tyger poses an exceptional theological question. The tiger is very beautiful, but it is also very dangerous, a creature capable of great destruction. If God created the tiger, then, what does this say about God?
[edit] Revolution
The incandescent imagery is evident; as well as searing poetry in its own right, Blake's cultural context must also be considered. The raw energy of the tiger can represent the violent forces of the French Revolution.
[edit] Spelling of tyger
Rumour has it that Blake specifically chose the already archaic English spelling of "tyger" (over the standard English of "tiger") because that particular version of the word evoked a more terrifying imagery and deeper visceral reaction from the reader[1].
A similar idea is also said to have motivated A. A. Milne, author of the Winnie the Pooh illustrated children's books, in the naming of his Tigger character. Since the word "tiger" invoked a more menacing image, A. A. Milne supposedly chose to soften the name, by adding the extra "g" to "tiger", so that the Tigger character would appear less threatening to his readership[2].
