William Blake Diction

“The Tyger” written by William Blake is a complex, highly controversial poem that requires much analysis. In 1789, Blake published a collection of poems called Songs of Innocence, and five years later he published “The Tyger” in another assortment of poems titled Songs of Experience. These two collections are now analyzed and published hand in hand. The poems in the Songs of Innocence are generally optimistic and possess childlike virtue. On the other hand, the Songs of Experience battles with the issue when “innocence is lost” (Gardner, web). Therefore uncovering the diction, syntax and tone of the poem will help analyze with this apparent loss of innocence. First of all, “The Tyger” is an especially contentious poem that questions

Additionally, throughout the entire poem Blake is asking countless questions. In fact, “there are no declarative sentences.” (Ross, web). Blake’s use of rhetorical questions “causes the audience to really question, “Did he who make the Lamb, make thee?”” (Lu, web). This question is the ultimate question of the entire poem. Did he who create good, also create evil? However, one source argues, Blake’s intentions were to question the “capability of creating two distinguishable creatures” (Hijouj, web). Besides rhetorical questions, the poem also has repetition which is “especially noted in the first and last stanza” (Lu, web). The first stanza states: “Tyger, Tyger burning bright/ In the forests of the night/ What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” The last stanza states: “Tyger, Tyger burning bright/ In the forests of the night/ What immortal hand or eye/ Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” The two stanzas are almost identical except for one particular word. The last line of the first stanza states “could” while the in the last stanza it states “dare.” This change is quite significant because it implies something completely different. It’s noted that “some may argue that Blake used this terminology in a demeaning way towards religion” (Hijouj, web). Therefore, Blake’s rhetorical questions and