"The Tyger" is a poem by visionary English poet William Blake, and is often said to be the most widely anthologized poem in the English language. It consists entirely of questions about the nature of God and creation, particularly whether the same God that created vulnerable beings like the lamb could also have made the fearsome tiger. The tiger becomes a symbol for one of religion's most difficult questions: why does God allow evil to exist? At the same time, however, the poem is an expression of marvel and wonder at the tiger and its fearsome power, and by extension the power of both nature and God.
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The Full Text of “The Tyger”
1Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
2In the forests of the night;
3What immortal hand or eye,
4Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
5In what distant deeps or skies.
6Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
7On what wings dare he aspire?
8What the hand, dare seize the fire?
9And what shoulder, & what art,
10Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
11And when thy heart began to beat,
12What dread hand? & what dread feet?
13What the hammer? what the chain,
14In what furnace was thy brain?
15What the anvil? what dread grasp,
16Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
17When the stars threw down their spears
18And water'd heaven with their tears:
19Did he smile his work to see?
20Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
21Tyger Tyger burning bright,
22In the forests of the night:
23What immortal hand or eye,
24Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The Full Text of “The Tyger”
1Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
2In the forests of the night;
3What immortal hand or eye,
4Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
5In what distant deeps or skies.
6Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
7On what wings dare he aspire?
8What the hand, dare seize the fire?
9And what shoulder, & what art,
10Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
11And when thy heart began to beat,
12What dread hand? & what dread feet?
13What the hammer? what the chain,
14In what furnace was thy brain?
15What the anvil? what dread grasp,
16Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
17When the stars threw down their spears
18And water'd heaven with their tears:
19Did he smile his work to see?
20Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
21Tyger Tyger burning bright,
22In the forests of the night:
23What immortal hand or eye,
24Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
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“The Tyger” Summary
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“The Tyger” Themes
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The Existence of Evil
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Creativity
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Tyger”
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Lines 1-4
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? -
Lines 5-8
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? -
Lines 9-12
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet? -
Lines 13-16
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp! -
Lines 17-20
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee? -
Lines 21-24
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
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“The Tyger” Symbols
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The Tiger
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Fire
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Industrial Tools
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“The Tyger” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Apostrophe
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Anaphora
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Epizeuxis
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End-Stopped Line
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Rhetorical Question
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Personification
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Paradox
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Refrain
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“The Tyger” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Thy
- Symmetry
- Deeps
- Thine
- Aspire
- Art
- Sinews
- Anvil
- Clasp
- Thee
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Tyger”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Tyger” Speaker
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“The Tyger” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Tyger”
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More “The Tyger” Resources
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External Resources
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Blake's Visions — An excerpt from a documentary in which writer Iain Sinclair discusses Blake's religious visions.
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A Reading by Ian Richardson — A chillingly beautiful rendition of the poem by actor Ian Richardson.
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Illustrations and Other Poems — A resource from the Tate organization, which holds a large collection of Blake originals.
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Full Text of Songs of Innocence and Experience — Various formats for the full text in which "The Tyger" is collected.
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Illustration and Discussion — A resource from the British Library that shows Blake's illustrations for the poem and discusses it in depth.
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Blake's Radicalism — An excerpt from a documentary in which writer Iain Sinclair discusses Blake's radicalism.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Blake
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