In William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” imagery is used to portray the power of nature and questions the intentions of a creator who could be pleased with such a terrifying creation. The image of God presented in this poem is not easily identifiable with the loving creator most think of. I believe Blake decided to question the essence of God not to inspire doubt in Him but rather to express appreciation for things that are fearful and powerful to make a contrast between what we see as “good” or “evil” and to indicate that one cannot exist without the other.
The burning of the Tyger suggests the power the beast wields in addition to the power that could construct such a creature. This is noted when Blake asks, “What Immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry) (lines 3-4). Blake indicates that the beast is a work of God, he further questions, “Did he smile his work to see? / Did he who make the Lamb make thee?” (lines 19-20). The Lamb is an allusion to Christ, the image is used to create a contrast between two creatures of creation, the Lamb is meek and the Tyger is fierce. The Tyger is described as “burning bright / In the forests of the night,” (lines 1-2). and has fire in its eyes (line 6). Fiery colors are often seen as violent or passionate, especially red since it is the color of blood.
The image that Blake presents is that of the Tyger being wrought in flames in a furnace (lines 13-15). This poem depicts God as a blacksmith forging this frightening beast; the images used are an anvil, hammer, chain, and the furnace (lines 13-15). The representation of God as a blacksmith further obscures the traditional image of God and creation and induces questions regarding why a creator would produce such a creature. This induces an image of God more similar to Dr. Frankenstein in the way that he created a creature that is terrifying not out of love but out of unnatural power, making it physically with his hands and tools. This will eventually doom that terrible creature to live rejected or feared by others. Certainly this is not how we perceive God or how he perceives the Tyger. The Tyger is fierce and fearful but that does not make it evil. It is significant that the Tyger is described as burning in the night rather than in the day, (lines 1-2) this reference to darkness further affirms the dreadfulness of the Tyger.
The wording of the first stanza versus the last stanza has a dramatic effect upon the poem, asking who “could” create this creature (lines 3-4) versus who would “dare” create this creature results in a much stronger feeling toward this animal and the questions of its purpose. At first Blake is asking who could make such a beast and after describing how terrifying the Tyger is Blake demands to know who would “dare” make it (lines 23-24).
The imagery in Blake’s “The Tyger” creates a beast that is both fearful and powerful challenging our usual view of seeing things as only good or evil and it also broadens our perception of God and his creative process. Blake is asking basic questions we all desire to know the answers to, he does not do this to discredit traditional viewpoints of God but to reevaluate the context of good and evil. The knowledge that I draw from this piece is that, that which we fear is not necessarily evil.
WORK CITED
Blake, William. “The Tyger.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V.
Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 3rd Compact Ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006. 502-03.