Blake 'The Tyger' (Experience)

Question 1

Context

What does Blake explore in this poem?

Answer 1

‘The Tyger’ (Experience) is the sister poem to ‘The Lamb’ (Innocence) and through questioning God’s creations, Blake is able to explore the dark and destructive side of God and religion.

Question 2

Context

Why does Blake choose to explore this?

Answer 2

Blake may have chosen to explore God’s creations in order to question the nature of religion. If God can create the lamb for the people’s good, then why would he creat ‘The Tyger’ which juxtaposes this.

Question 3

Form and structure

What is the form and structure of Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ (Experience)?

Answer 3

• 6 quatrains.
• AABB rhyme scheme.
• Graphology of the poem represents stripes and symmetry of tigers.
• Trochaic tetrameter in all except L4 & 24. - Iambic tetrameter.
  
  • Ironic - the lines that contains “symmetry” are not the same as the rest.

Question 4

Lexical set

What is the lexical set Blake uses to describe the idea of fire throughout the poem? Suggesting the destructive element of religion, the church, the tiger, and god.

Answer 4

• “burning bright” - Alliteration symbolises the stregnth of both god and the tiger within the bible and peopls lives, as their faith is strong, running throughout the country.
• “distant deeps” - Symbolic of hell, suggests thats where the tiger will send the people who don’t believe in religion, scaremongering.
• “fire” = Links to the story of Prometheus, God of Fire, known for stealing fire from civilians, links to god and the church taking away time/hope from people.
• “furnace” - Prompted to imagine a creator hammering in the dark, with the furnace being the only light. Questions how God created evil, and the length/effort it must have taken.

Question 5

Lexical set

What is the the lexical set Blake uses to contextually link to the Industrial Revolution? Symbolising the effort in creating the evil which runs throughout the world, when God is symbolic of good.

Answer 5

• “hammer”
• “chain”
• “furnace”
• “anvil”

Question 6

Quote

Give a quote from lines 1 to 2 of Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ (Experience)

Answer 6

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,”

Question 7

Interpretation

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,”

Answer 7

• Trochaic tetrameter for the first three lines = relentless beating sound creating violence/fear.
• Epizeuxis of Tyger with exclamation mark heightens both the importance and the danger of the animal.
• Alliteration of burning bright = striking and menacing.
• Juxtaposition of night and bright creates a contrast between good/evil.
• Irony - tigers are not found in forests.

Question 8

Quote

Give a quote from lines 3 to 4 of Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ (Experience)

Answer 8

“What immortal hand or eye
Could frame they fearful symmetry?”

Question 9

Interpretation

“What immortal hand or eye
Could frame they fearful symmetry?”

Answer 9

• Synecdoche - Humanising God as we don’t know his true form.
• Challenges God creating both a beautiful and terrifying animal.
• Eye and symmetry = half/eye-rhyme.
• Iambic Iambic tetrameter (line 4).
• Constantly questioning, uncertainty of God’s nature and power.
• ‘Frame’ = Contain.
• Irony, the only line that contains the word “symmetry” is not symmetrical/ doesn’t rhyme

Question 10

Quote

Give a quote from lines 11 to 12 of Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ (Experience)

Answer 10

“And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?”

Question 11

Interpretation

“And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?”

Answer 11

• Image of the heart beating reminds us of the power of life + shown in rhyme scheme, with the constant alliteration and rhymes.
• “hand” and “feet” refers directly to an animal which is a metaphorical embodiment of evil. questions both the reality of the tyger and god.
• Polysyndeton “&” creates symmetry like the lines of a tyger.
• The littering of body parts throughout the poem reflects the mechanics of the animal being built.

Question 12

Quote

Give a quote from lines 19 to 20 of Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ (Experience)

Answer 12

“Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

Question 13

Interpretation

“Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

Answer 13

• Anaphora refers to the God who created the Tyger.
• The questioning allows reader to think about the nature of God’s power in why he created the Tyger, after making this and seeing the damage it causes, did God look at this and smile?
• If God made the lamb then why should he make the tyger and oppose his initial idea. Questions god’s omnibonevolence and omnipotence.