The Tyger

In William Blake’s poem “The Tyger”, a tiger is originally presented as a strong and fierce creature exploring the forests, through the darkness. The poem is read almost as if a child is curiously posing question after question about the mysterious tiger. Blake never answers the child’s question, which has subjected the poem to an influx of interpretations. Many paradoxes result from the child’s unanswered questions. Three important contradictions in “The Tyger” are the creation of the tiger through the industrial process, the comparison between the lamb and tiger, and the similarity between the first and last stanzas.
In lines 3 and 4 of the poem Blake questions, “What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry”. Blake wonders, who could create a tiger so powerful and terrifying with a perfect apportionment and a precise appearance. Was it God in the distant “skies” or Satan in the lower “deeps”? Blake further questions the creation of the Tyger in questioning,” What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? Blacksmiths used the hammer, chain and anvil to advance our society technologically during the industrial revolution. Blake questions whether God created us like an industrial process. Blake, an opponent of the revolution, believed this part of the tiger was created as evil because it was part of the industrial process. However, Blake rejected “Satan” and believed everything alive was created by God, and thus good showing that the tiger is not all evil.
The lamb is another important symbol in this poem that can be viewed as a direct opposite to the “tyger”. Blake asks, “ Did he who make the Lamb make thee?” It is questioned here, whether God could create and be satisfied with two creatures having such distinct differences. Blake wonders how God could create such a fierce, brutal tiger, and a gentle lamb in the same world. Another important conclusion from this poem is the similarity between the first and last stanzas. Each word is the same except that “could” is changed to “dare frame thy fearful symmetry”. In the beginning, Blake pondered who could create such a tiger, different from any creature in the world. The closing line is much stronger asking who would be bold and brave enough to create this powerful, mysterious, and violent creature. Blake creates the tiger because it contrasts with peace and violence, good and evil. The tiger, along with the lamb allow people to see diversity in a changing world.