William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 / London)

Bri Marie me too! ! That is why I actually looked up this poem in the first place and I love it! !

I first heard this on the tv show The Mentalist and it enchanted me right away. Who knew I would ever hear anything so beautiful and profound from a tv show! Bravo to The Mentalist writers. :)

Wow! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Nothing else needs be said.

The Tiger

Any reader of Blake would certainly find The Tiger as a remarkable poem with a difference. Only Blake's genius afforded a hidden, great & mystical theme under the veil of animal imagery. Here a deep mystical sense overshadows with an apostrophising impulse, indicating wonder at the diversity of God's creations.As The Lamb is symbolic of meekness, tenderness, beauty & innocence, but when we ascend the ladder of Experience that is atrewn with grief, disappointment, & injustices of life, the symbols of the poet get changed at once; the symbol of this kind of life is The Tiger...strong, restless, remorseless, ruthless...but beautiful.

Blake not only wonders at the burning eyes & fearful symmetry, but he tries to catch a glimpse of the Power that created it; The enigma, in fact, is not the Tiger, but the Creator.It is the divine incomprehensibility that strikes the note of amazement.Blake takes care of the aura as well; if meadows are the fit places for frisking & frolicking of the lamb, forests provide the apt atmosphere for all the actions & movements of this regal being. Herein lies the cause of the poet's wonder, not on the fierce heart or dreadful feet of the tiger, but the divine power that could create the antagonistic objects, that could bound together these strong muscles & sinews...vigorous, horrible & ferocious.

The real obscurity lies in the 5th stanza where the Biblical connotation is concealed behind the outward symbols. The line
when the stars threw down their spears can be found in his epic The Four Zoas with the same context. The personification of stars means (though not definitely) the person of Urizen throwing down the spears. The stars symbolise Milton's fallen angels also who, with lucifer, refused to serve God. This poem is all about God with the concept of contrariness, the Being who created the meek prey lamb, could also create the aggressor -the tiger...in the last line the word DARE replaced the word COULD.From the creations to the creator, understanding God through whatever He has created, is the main theme of this puzzling yet beautiful poem.
shahzia batool

beautiful, .............nothing less than an innovative piece of art........just unexplainable

Excellent.. the Poem is symbolism of tiger in words

it is talking about how can God have made such a fearsome beast as the tigerbut also have made the lamb

it is a poem which points to creater God

A great and unique voice extolling the wonders of creation. There is not much to match this.

The first two lines like a baby song introducing the greatest puzzles of creation. Unbelieveble contrast.