The Tyger

Question 1

Main themes

Answer 1

• Religion
• Power
• Good and evil
• Mystery

Question 2

Stanzaic structure and rhyme scheme

Answer 2

• Six quatrains, each with two rhyming couplets (simple AABB)
• Regularity represents the comparison of the process of God creating the world to a blacksmith forging something with a consistently beating hammer
• This is in contrast to the enigmatic nature of God, showing how everything God did was intentional but we may never find answers to how or why he did it

Question 3

Metre

Answer 3

• Trochaic tetrameter catalectic
• The steady, rhymic beat represents God’s creation of the tiger being analogous to a blacksmith beating a hammer
• The catalectic ending to each line creates the impression that much of the information needed to answer the questions is still unknown, adding to the enigmatic nature of creation
• Occasionally, metrical inversion occurs and it becomes iambic, emphasising the unanswerable nature of the questions posed in the lines with the inverted metres

The rythmic nature of the poem also emphasises how God’s creation happened in a steady, progressive way which was completely out of our control

Question 4

Inclusion of many rhetorical questions

Answer 4

• Shows how enigmatic God and his creation is and how there are so many things we do not know
• It also shows that there are things that are no compatible, such as God’s benevolence and the existence of the tiger, which raises questions such as how and why he would create such a thing

Question 5

Enjambement throughout

Answer 5

• Further shows the steady and progressive nature of creation (like a smith), highlighting God’s intentionality
• This is in contrast to the enigmatic nature of why and how he did it, which is what Blake is in awe of

Question 6

‘Tyger, Tyger’

Answer 6

• Alliteration and epizeuxis
• Emphasises the description of something violent and aggressive and directly addresses it, showing that it is the nature of the tiger and how it relates to God’s intentions that he is questioning

Question 7

‘burning bright’

Answer 7

• Plosive alliteraiton and metaphorical fiery imagery
• Emphasises the dangerous nature of the tiger
• The connotations of fire and in direct contast to God, immeaditely making us question his benevolence

Question 8

‘In the forests of the night’

Answer 8

• Metaphor
• Creates a sense of mystery, mimetic of the unknown in how or why God would create a tiger
• It also contrasts with the fiery nature of the tiger, showing that there is still something beautiful about its mystery

Question 9

‘Could frame thy fearful symmetry?’

Answer 9

• The modal verb ‘could’ shows that at this stage he is questioning how such a thing with contrasts of aggression and beauty could be made
• The oxymoron ‘fearful symmetry’ corroborates this, showing that Blake is amazed and confused how something so intricate and beautiful yet harmful would be created by God

Question 10

‘In what distant deeps or skies’

Answer 10

• Alliteration and antithesis between ‘deeps and skies’
• Highlights the vast sense of creation and God in general, illustrating Blakes amazement, wonder and intrigue at everything and how God was even able to make such a being as the tiger

Question 11

‘On what wings dare he aspire’

Answer 11

• Allusion to Icarus and Daedalus
• Shows how he is starting to question why God would ‘dare’ to make such a being
• This is because he believes that just like how Icarus dared to test his wings, God daring to test the limits of creation can lead to harm
• However him asking ‘what wings’ shows he is still dumbounded as to how God even made such a thing

Question 12

‘What the hand dare sieze the fire’

Answer 12

• Repetition of ‘dare’ from previous line shows he is now questioning God’s audacity to make such a thing, though he is still astonished as to how it happened
• ‘Sieze the fire’ extends the metaphor of comparing God to a smith and how God is ‘playing with fire’

Question 13

‘And what shoulder, & what art’

Answer 13

• Metaphor of shoulder describes God’s physical, manual creation of the tiger as a smith, showing his intentionality in creating it
• ‘Art’ shows that despite their harmfulness, God’s creations, such as the tiger, are still beatiful
• The caesura in between the two shows the seperation between the methodical nature of creation and the beauty found within the result

For this stanza and the next he is mostly back to quesitoning how it was created after questioning why it was created in the last one

Question 14

‘Could twist the sinews of thy heart?’

Answer 14

• The word ‘twist’ sounds malicious
• Here, Blake might be questioning whether God could have a malevolent aspect to him as he intentionally created an evil being

Question 15

‘What dread hand? & what dread feed?’

Answer 15

• Anaphora and synecdoche
• Shows how he does not even know what being would create such a dreadful thing, let alone why

Question 16

‘What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil?’

Answer 16

• Semantic field of industrial lexis, and list of rhetorical questions
• Extends of the comparison of God’s process of creation to a blacksmith forging
• Shows his incessant confusion and therefore questioning as to how such a being was created

Question 17

‘Dare its deadly terrors clasp!’

Answer 17

• Alliteration and exclamation mark
• Emphasises the horror and the evil that have come from God’s creations, including the tiger

Question 18

‘When the stars through down their spears’

Answer 18

• Personifying metaphor for the advent of human suffering, potentially caused by God’s creation of beings such as the tiger
• It alludes to ‘Paradise lost’ by John Milton, where the devil was expelled from heaven and began to cause suffering

Question 19

‘And water’d heaven with their tears’

Answer 19

Metaphor to show heaven crying in response to the human suffering and the presence of evil

Question 20

‘Did he smile his work to see’

Answer 20

• Rhetorical question with sibiliance
• It is almost accusatory of whether or not God was pleased with his creation of the tiger
• This is because if God was benevolent, he would not smile

Question 21

‘Did he who made the Lamb make thee?’

Answer 21

• Allusion to his other poem where he describes an innocent lamb and confirms that God was its creator
• It also alludes to Jesus’s sacrifice as a lamb
• It encapsulates the utter confusion and awe of Blake as the contrast is so severe and it is so hard to understand why or how God would create the tiger

Question 22

‘Dare frame thy fearful symmetry’

Answer 22

• Change of the word ‘could’ to ‘dare’ in repetition of the first stanza shows that he has gone from questioning how it happened to questioning why
• It end-focuses dare, and serves as a summary for his question to the tiger and to God
• The half rhyming in ‘symmetry’ undermines the meaning of the word, showing the incompatibility with God as a benevolent being and the existence of the tiger