The Underlying Message of The Tyger by William Blake
Blake’s legendary poem “The Tyger” is deceivingly straightforward. Though Blake uses “vividly simple language” (Hirsch, 244), the poem requires a deeper understanding from the reader. There are many misconceptions concerning the symbols in “The Tyger” (specifically the tiger itself). This often leads to confusion concerning the underlying message of the poem. Compared to Blake’s “meek” and “mild” lamb, the tiger is hard to accept. It is a symbol for that which people fear. For some, their fears are not reality, and are much easier to ignore than accept. But no matter how hard to accept, the lamb and tiger are equally important, and together create a balance that is ideally healthy for the world. The Tyger can be interpreted through many different theologies, as a form of the sublime, and as an essential part of human life.
Because Blake is ambiguous about the tiger’s nature it is hard to understand. Blake uses paradox to his advantage in the first stanza, which creates an ambiguous effect:
The expressions “forests of the night” and “fearful” have a menacing quality that is negative in nature. On the other hand “bright” and “symmetry” (a sign of perfection) have positive overtones, and are more commonly associated with goodness. Blake has given many clues; and the effect is such that the reader is led to believe that the tiger has both good and evil qualities. The one underlying question that Blake asks of the reader: what God could “dare” (l.24) to create such a creature?
According to the Christian doctrine, there is one God who is the maker of everything. Though there is much argument over how much He partakes in the creation of evil. Nonetheless, this passage is found in the Bible: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7). The tiger could very well be the expression of this God. There are many other beliefs in the world besides Christianity within which the tiger can be proven to reside. Monotheism, for example, is the “belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity”(Wikipedia). This deity could also be the “immortal hand” that formed the Tyger. Manicheanism, one of the major ancient religions, uses the theology of dualism as its main principle. The Dualism doctrine can be said to “consist of two basic opposing...
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...he tiger and the lamb.” (250) Ultimatley, the reader must make the decision whether the tyger is a positive or negative part of life.
Works Cited
1. E.D. Hirsch, JR. Innocence and Experience: And Introduction to Blake USA: Yale University, 1964.
2. The Holy Bible containing The Old and New Testaments, King James Version Toronto: Canadian Bible Society.
3. “Dualism”, “Monotheism”, “Christianity”, Manicheanism”, “Taoism” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.
4. Roy P. Basler. “The Tyger: A Psychological Interpretation” Sex, Symbolism, and Psychology in Literature. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1948. 20-24.
5. Morton D. Paley, “Tyger of Wrath”. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Ed. Morton D. Paley. USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 68-92
6. “Manicheanism” Encyclopedia of the Orient http://i-cias.com/e.o/manichae.htm
7. William Blake. “The Tyger”, Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. E.V. Roberts and H. E. Jacobs 7th Ed. USA: Pearson Prentice Hall 2004.
8. William Shakespeare, “Henry V” Shakespeare-literature.com
http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Henry_V/10.html
Bibliography:.. Works Cited Meyer, M., Ed., (1999). Bedford Introduction to Literature, 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin.
Hirsch, E. D., Jr. Innocence and Experience: An Introduction to Blake. Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 1964.
“The Child By Tiger” inlays a sense of good with evil tailing it as its shadow. In the beginning, Blake’s stanza questions “…who could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Dick Prosser appears to be kind and moral, but later reveals his vengeful side as he chaotically kills people. His conflicts with society inspire the evil to spring forward and divulge himself. The reference to “tiger!” in Blake’s stanza indirectly relates to the fact that Prosser is referred to as a cat through Wolfe’s story. Prosser’s evil self is illustrated as stealthily and smartly stalking his prey; pretending to be the same amongst the others. This evil, Prosser himself, exhibits tendencies of moral goodness as he tries to suppress his situational conflict. Evil stalks a prey smartly; it takes notice of every slight move, and every attempt to through it off fails because it always lands back on its feet.
The symbolism in the poem paints a ghastly picture of a man’s life, falling apart as he does his best, and worst, to keep it safe from himself. In lines 1 through 8 (stanza one), he gives a brief description of an incident in his life where things have gone wrong. “When the tiger approaches can the fast-fleeting hind/Repose trust in his footsteps of air?/No! Abandoned he sinks in a trance of despair,” He uses these lines to show the lack of control he has over his actions, how his will to change his circumstances has weakened. He is both the hind with the person he is tormenting, and the tiger that
Compare and contrast the poems The Tyger and The Donkey and discuss which poet gives us the clearest depiction of humanity. William Blake is a wealthy, upper-class writer who separates himself from the rest of the wealthy community. Blake has a hate for the techniques used by many of the wealthy, company owners who gain and capitalise through cheap and expendable labour, supplied by the ever-growing poverty in the country. Blake makes a point to try and reveal this industrial savagery through his work. "The Tyger" is presented as a metaphorical approach to the struggle between the rich and the poor; good and evil.
As for artistic allusions, Blake’s reference to Icarus, “On what wings dare he aspire?” compares to a human man who attempted to break free from his human limitations by making wings of wax, which melted as he flew close to the sun. The line, “What the hand dare seize the fire?” is symbolizing the c...
“The Tyger.” Poetry Foundation. Web. The Web. The Web. 2014.
Nurmi, Martin K. "Blake's Revisions of the Tiger." Publication of the Modern Language Association 71.4 (1956): 669-85.
William Blake’s 1793 poem “The Tyger” has many interpretations, but its main purpose is to question God as a creator. Its poetic techniques generate a vivid picture that encourages the reader to see the Tyger as a horrifying and terrible being. The speaker addresses the question of whether or not the same God who made the lamb, a gentle creature, could have also formed the Tyger and all its darkness. This issue is addressed through many poetic devices including rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism, all of which show up throughout the poem and are combined to create a strong image of the Tyger and a less than thorough interpretation of its maker.
Creating an extended metaphor between the creator and a blacksmith, Blake poses the questions “What the hammer? What the chain, / In what furnace was thy brain? / What the anvil? What dread grasp,/...” (13-16). The industrial terminology asserts the belief that the tiger is a conscious product of the creator or God. The decision to make a parallel between a blacksmith and God suggests that it was not an effortless process, but rather a laborious and dangerous one, much like the forging of hot metal. It is a process that requires an abundance of energy, which suggests that evil, that is the tiger, was put into the world intentionally. Blake’s later question of, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” is less so a question, but rather a declaration of the narrator’s realization that, yes, it is the same God that created the lamb and the tiger (20). The two opposite creatures were created to
The speaker seems as if he is trying to escape this horrendous beast, the reader can almost feel the panic and terror that the speaker seems to be going through. “Blake creates this effect by drawing on several poetic devices”(Furr).
How did Blake depict the tiger in this poem? At the very start of the poem it is clear in what way Blake wishes to portray the tiger in the picture. The first words he uses - "Tiger!" Tiger. is an aggressive start to the poem, thus implying that Blake is trying to put the tiger across as an aggressive animal.
The imagery of nature and humanity intermingling presents Blake's opinion on the inborn, innate harmony between nature and man. The persona of the poem goes on to express the `gentle streams beneath our feet' where `innocence and virtue meet'. This is where innocence dwells: synchronization with nature, not synchronization with industry where `babes are reduced to misery, fed with a cold usurous hand' as in the experienced version of `Holy Thursday'. The concept of the need for the individual's faithfulness to the laws of nature and what is natural is further reiterated in `the marriage of heaven and hell' in plate 10 where Blake states `where man is not, nature is barren'. The most elevated form of nature is human nature and when man resists and consciously negates nature, `nature' becomes `barren'. Blake goes on to say `sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'. This harks back to `the Songs of Innocence' `A Cradle Song' where the `infants smiles are his own smiles'. The infant is free to act out its desires as it pleases. It is unbound, untainted. Blake's concern is for the pallid and repressed, subjugated future that awaits the children who must `nurse unacted desires' and emotions in this new world of industrialisation. Despairingly, this is restated again in `the mind-forg'd manacles' of `London'. The imagery of the lambs of the `Songs of Innocence' `Introduction' is developed in `the Chimney Sweeper' into the image of `Little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, that curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd'.
In conclusion these two poems by William Blake are both deep and have hidden meanings, they both use imagery, repetition, alliteration and ryming couplets as well as biblical references to create a vivid pictures in the readers head. But these poems do differ in many ways such as the structure, theme and way it is written. The Tyger appeals to me most as it has more hidden meanings than the Lamb and the Lamb is boring and as if written by a child (for effect). In this essay I have analysed, contrasted and compared the two poems The Tyger and The Lamb to the best of my ability detailing the poetic devices used and the underlying meanings.
During the mid 1800’s was a remarkable era called the Romanticism. Some political and social milestones of this era included The American Revolution, The French Revolution, and The Industrial Revolution. During these events, the “theme” more or less was a type of laissez faire which means, “let the people do as they please.” WIlliam Blake was a famous poet in this time period, as well as Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and George Gordon. Novels and poems were written in this time to express the ways Romanticism was shown and how melancholy was trending.