Practical Criticism: The Tyger William Blake

Practical Criticism: The Tyger William Blake

Blake's poem "The Tyger" - written somewhere between 1785 and 1789 -

was first published in Songs of Innocence and Experience. These two

interconnected books of poetry were intended to show the "two contrary

states of the human soul. Appropriately enough "The Tyger" appeared in

the second book, Experience, and has as its natural counter part "The

Lamb" in Innocence. "The Tyger" as a poem is a perennial international

favourite. It has been more frequently and widely published than any

other poem in English.

The diction and rhyme scheme of both poems suggest they were written

for children which is ostensibly the intended audience for the Songs.

However the choice of words and cadence works on far deeper levels

than just creating a palatable nursery-rhyme rhythm for children. The

lively trochaic metre, aswell as suggesting a nursery rhyme, could be

likened to a chant or invocation. The repetition of "Tyger! Tyger!"

with its double exclamation marks support this idea. It gives the

whole poem a quasi-religious tone which is maintained - albeit

ambiguously - throughout the poem. Simultaneously the exclaimed

repetition of "Tyger! Tyger!" could be seen as an awed whisper, a

terrified cry or an oath of some kind. The immediate stressed

syllables at the start of the foot (Ty - ger! Ty - ger!) introduce an

element of panic or of rapt, awestruck wonder. As if the narrator (and

the reader) are placed directly before the tiger wrapped in its coat

of flame.

The use of the words "Burning bright" emphasise the otherworldly

nature of Blake's particular Tyger. The imagery is vivid, immediate

and memorable. It suggests blazing colour (stark contrast to the

verdure "..forest...

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...edonistic urge to be free and follow ones productive

animal instincts.

This partially tallies with the popular psychoanalytic reading of the

poem: the tyger is the ultimate embodiment of the Id liberated from

the command of the Urizen the ultra-rational superego. The sexual

implications inherent in a psychoanalytic reading - although present

within the symbol, mystery, potency, and (lustful?) heat of the Tyger

and within the pubertal development of childhood lamb to predatory

tiger -unfortunately have no space within the 1,500 words allowed

here.

[1] In fact Blake excised the too emotionally loaded word "cruel" from

his initial draft of the poem, probably to maintain the readers

objectivity. I think the intimations of the word did not fit easily

with the meanings of the poem whereas "dread", "fearful" etc. were

valid in their context.