Thursday, September 19, 2013

What question is repeatedly asked in the poem "The Tyger"?

The serial questions that make up the text of William Blake's "The Tyger" are all variations on a single question, namely, "Who designed and created the Tyger?" The first question asks, "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?" To paraphrase, this means, "What kind of God could make a creature so frightening?" 


The second stanza could be paraphrased as "How far did the Creator have to go to obtain the dreadful fire...

The serial questions that make up the text of William Blake's "The Tyger" are all variations on a single question, namely, "Who designed and created the Tyger?" The first question asks, "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?" To paraphrase, this means, "What kind of God could make a creature so frightening?" 


The second stanza could be paraphrased as "How far did the Creator have to go to obtain the dreadful fire of the Tyger's eyes, and how did he dare grasp it in his hands?"


The third stanza asks what shoulder, hand, or feet could use its creative skill to mold such a fearsome beast.


The fourth stanza uses imagery of a blacksmith shop to ask what tools could have been used to fashion the deadly animal.


The fifth stanza wonders whether, when creation was complete, the God who was responsible for creating this monster smiled, or whether he mourned along with the stars at the ravenous beast. It then asks, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" The contrast is astounding because the Tyger is the polar opposite of the gentle, harmless lamb.


Finally the last stanza reiterates word for word the question posed in the first stanza. All the questions in the poem are ways of asking what kind of God could make such a deadly and frightening animal. 

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