Introduction
“Tyger Tyger” is the most outstanding poetry written by William Blake, pondering God’s power to create the world, including the most fearful sentient beings, such as a tiger. The primary message delivered by the author is that God is the only one who gives life to creatures, although they might be evil or kind, harmful or valuable to humans. The author is afraid of the tiger but is also amazed by God’s power, which forces him to accept the tiger’s cruel nature. The central theme is the origin and creation of all living beings, highlighting God’s supremacy over the human will and natural processes through literary devices such as symbols, hyperboles, and repetitions.
Analysis
The virtual literal device that Blake utilizes throughout his poem is the tiger, the symbol of people’s fears and their inability to accept evil. The tiger’s image inspires fear in the author, forcing him to urge the audience never to approach it as it is associated with fire. Since people avoid the fire of the danger of being burned, humans should also keep their distance from the tiger who might harm them: “Tyger, Tyger, burning light” (Blake, line 1).
The second stanza further continues this symbolism by emphasizing the tiger’s eyes burned with fire. The purpose of introducing such a particular symbol is to pose a question: “What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (Blake, lines 3–4). This question correlates with the poem’s theme of origin, as the one who created this tiger is God. Thus, Blake depicts evil through the tiger and wonders about its origin.
More importantly, as the poem’s theme concerns God’s power in creating the world, the author highlights God’s majestic strength linked to the tiger’s origin. Blake assumes that, as the powerful and frightful tiger is made of fire, his creator must have had even more intimidating features and extensive power: “What the hand, dare seize the fire?” (Blake, line 8). That is why he utilizes this hyperbole as if God put his hands into the pure fire to sculpt a fearsome tiger. This literary device helps to understand Blake’s perception of God, who had enough strength to create anything.
In the subsequent stanzas, the author imagines the tiger’s creator as one with a terrifying nature, noting humans’ obedience to God. Blake relies on parallelism to draw the connection between God and a blacksmith or a craftsman who makes objects. Thus, he uses a hammer and an anvil to question who could have created a tiger, as if God had heated the metal to mold the tiger.
It is a very successful strategy since people acknowledge the blacksmith’s working procedure but never know how God gives life to sentient beings. Nevertheless, Blake admits God’s incredible effort and skills: “And what shoulders, & what arts” (Blake, line 9). Hence, human nature has no choice but to comply with God’s order.
Although the poem focuses on the tiger’s dangerous image, Blake introduces another protagonist through juxtaposition and an opposing symbol. This literary device relates to the lamb’s image, symbolizing a harmless and innocent creature, posing no threat to human beings: “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (Blake, line 20). The decision to present the juxtaposition to the tiger’s image is connected to the natural balance in the world.
The author wonders if the same creator gives life to the dreadful tiger and the innocuous lamb, two animals symbolizing evil and good. Although he does not answer this question, the audience assumes that both parties are created by God’s will, meaning both have their purpose and destination. Meanwhile, humans should respect and accept both creatures and their pleasant and harmful features.
In his poem, Blake successfully repeats the first stanza later in the poem with slight differences. In the beginning, he wonders who “Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” while in the end, he asks another question: “Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” (Blake, line 4, line 24). After thoroughly examining the tiger’s fearsome nature and wondering about its origins, the author concludes that God creating this tiger must have been powerful and brave.
Although Blake attempts to address the question of the origin of the vulnerable lamb and the creature that quickly eats this lamb, he leaves all questions unanswered. Regardless of all conjectures around his religious affiliation, it is clear that the author urges the audience to establish a society tolerant of both parties: tigers and lambs.
The reason is that the powerful and omniscient God has already put purpose in their existence, despite the continuous efforts of the author to understand it. It might be associated with the idea that there are no purely evil or kind people, as tigers and lambs might coexist in one human’s inner nature. Thus, Blake struggles to comprehend the necessity of evil but encourages readers to reconcile with it.
Conclusion
Blake proposes the literary masterpiece “Tyger Tyger” to note the extensive power of God in generating the world’s good and evil. Even the creation of a frightening tiger, the poem’s symbol, has the purpose of balancing two sides, meaning that the author acknowledges the creature’s importance. It hints that a society comprising dangerous tigers and compassionate creatures should find common ground to resolve their issues and believe in God’s blessing for this diversity.
Work Cited
Blake, William. “Tyger Tyger.” Poetry Foundation. 1794. Web.