The Tyger Flashcards
What immoral hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry
“What immortal hand or eye” suggests and immortal being created the tiger yet Blake did not believe in a God who looked down on earth from heaven, so the personification of “immortal hand or eye” illustrates Blake’s idiosyncratic belief that “The essence of god is in every man” and that Jesus Christ was the divine human on earth which was influenced by Swedenborg. Blake believed that every human was divine “yes I believe Christ to be divine…but so are you and I” so by using the words “immortal hand or eye” blake manages to portray every human “hand or eye” as being ‘immortal’ and therefore divine yet by using ‘immortal’ he illustrates that people can chose to be good or bad.
Tyger tyger burning bright
In the forests of the night
‘Burning bright’ the imagery of the flame coloured stripes of a tigers body is symbolic of passion and desire yet also danger. This illustrates to Blake’s resentment for organised religion as they suppressed human desires as they though it was sin. Blake once said “rather strangle an infant in it’s cot than nurse unacted desires” illustrating his reasoning for using a symbolic tyger- very feared animal in Blake’s day- showing that Desire is “burning bright” within every person but there is an element of fear for God whom is depicted as being vengeful and unforgiving.
“Burning bright” could also be an reference to Blake’s dislike of the industrialisation taking hold in his day. “Burning bright” symbolises the destructive nature of fire such as a “furnace” and the fact that the tiger is “burning bright in the forests” illustrates blake perceived the industrial revolution separating man from nature, and blake being a romanticist believed in a unity where man and nature were in harmony.
‘Twist the sinews of thy heart’
Brutal sound of the word ‘twist’-> industrialisation& manipulation of organised religion god
‘Thy heart’ possibly human desires and the fact that they are being twisted act as a restraint.
“Dread hand”
‘Dread’ symbolises peoples fear and dread of expressing their desires due to the traditional view of god
“What the hammer what the chain
In what furnace was thy brain
What the anvil what dread grasp”
Lexical field of destruction “hammer” “anvil” “furnace” “chain” restrictive aspects of industrialisation furthering the gap between man and nature. Blake was a romanticist so he was very against industrialisation as he believed man and nature should be in harmony.
