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The Tiger
The Tiger
The Tiger
Meter
The poem is in trochaic tetrameter with catalexis at the end of each line. Here is an explanation of these technical
terms:
..1...........2...............3..................4
TIger,..|..TIger,..|..BURN ing..|..BRIGHT
.....1..............2...............3...............4
IN the..|..FOR ests..|..OF the..|..NIGHT
Notice that the fourth foot in each line eliminates the conventional unstressed syllable (catalexis). However, this
irregularity in the trochaic pattern does not harm the rhythm of the poem. In fact, it may actually enhance it, allowing
each line to end with an accented syllable that seems to mimic the beat of the maker’s hammer on the anvil. For a
detailed discussion of meter and the various types of feet, click here.
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Alliteration: Tiger, tiger, burning bright (line 1); frame thy fearful symmetry? (line 4)
Metaphor: Comparison of the tiger and his eyes to fire.
Anaphora: Repetition of what at the beginning of sentences or clauses. Example: What dread hand and what dread
feet? / What the hammer? what the chain?
Allusion: Immortal hand or eye: God or Satan
Allusion: Distant deeps or skies: hell or heaven
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Symbols
The Tiger: Evil (or Satan)
The Lamb: Goodness (or God)
Distant Deeps: Hell
Skies: Heaven
Themes
The Existence of Evil
“The Tiger” presents a question that embodies the central theme: Who created the tiger? Was it the kind and loving
God who made the lamb? Or was it Satan? Blake presents his question in lines 3 and 4:
Of course, there can be no gainsaying that the tiger symbolizes evil, or the incarnation of evil, and that the lamb (Line
20) represents goodness, or Christ. Blake's inquiry is a variation on an old philosophical and theological question:
Why does evil exist in a universe created and ruled by a benevolent God? Blake provides no answer. His mission is
to reflect reality in arresting images. A poet’s first purpose, after all, is to present the world and its denizens in
language that stimulates the aesthetic sense; he is not to exhort or moralize. Nevertheless, the poem does stir the
reader to deep thought. Here is the tiger, fierce and brutal in its quest for sustenance; there is the lamb, meek and
gentle in its quest for survival. Is it possible that the same God who made the lamb also made the tiger? Or was the
tiger the devil's work?
The poem is more about the creator of the tiger than it is about the tiger intself. In contemplating the terrible ferocity
and awesome symmetry of the tiger, the speaker is at a loss to explain how the same God who made the lamb could
make the tiger. Hence, this theme: humans are incapable of fully understanding the mind of God and the mystery of
his handiwork.
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The Tiger
By William Blake
1
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Stanza 1 Summary
What immortal being created this terrifying creature which, with its perfect proportions (symmetry), is an awesome killing machine?
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?
Stanza 2 Summary
Was it created in hell (distant deeps) or in heaven (skies)? If the creator had wings, how could he get so close to the
fire in which the tiger was created? How could he work with so blazing a fire?
3
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
Stanza 3 Summary
What strength (shoulder) and craftsmanship (art) could make the tiger's heart? What being could then stand before it
(feet) and shape it further (hand)?
4
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
Stanza 4 Summary
What kind of tool (hammer) did he use to fashion the tiger in the forge fire? What about the chain connected to the
pedal which the maker used to pump the bellows? What of the heat in the furnace and the anvil on which the maker
hammered out his creation? How did the maker muster the courage to grasp the tiger?
5
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?
Stanza 5 Summary
When the stars cast their light on the new being and the clouds cried, was the maker pleased with his creation?
6
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Stanza 6 Summary
The poet repeats the the central question of the poem, stated in Stanza 1. However, he changes could (line 4)
to dare (line 24). This is a significant change, for the poet is no longer asking who had the capability of creating the
tiger but who dared to create so frightful a creature.