The Tyger: An Analysis

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“The Tyger:” An Analysis

William Blake seems to have been a man of great vision, and even greater imagination. I particularly enjoyed reading the letter to Dr. John Trusler. It seemed like such a sophisticated way to defend himself and his works. I believe that in the poem “The Tyger,” Blake really translates his love of nature and of his passion for imagination.
The plot or theme in “The Tyger” seems to reflect the title itself. The poem appears to be crying out to God, asking him why such a thing like a tiger made to exist. Blake emphasizes the tiger’s physical traits, such as his fiery eyes and ferocious paws, to create a sense of how evil this thing is that God has made. At one point it looks as if Blake is accusing God of being crazy, by insinuating that his brain must have been in a furnace when he produced this diabolic creature. To me, the tiger represents the devil, and the theme definitely relates to interrogating God about the existence of such an evil thing.
The structure or form is consistent throughout the entire poem. In the first three stanzas and the last, Blake seems to be talking to the tiger itself, asking him how he came about. Then in the forth and fifth stanza, Blake is talking to God, but still asking the same question. Throughout the poem, the structure is one of interrogating and consistent bombardment of questions.
The language in “The Tyger” can be a little confusing. First “The Tyger” is not spelled the same way as I am used to, but it was probably common in Blake’s time. Blake also uses words such as hammer, chain, furnace, anvil, and sinew to create an almost evil aura within the poem. The overall feeling of the language in Blake’s poem makes the setting evil and fearful.
The context of Blake’s “The Tyger” is seen also in his other works. Blake definitely looks at things in a different, unconventional way. As in Blake’s “The Lamb,” he is rela...