The_Tyger”

The Tyger” Patricia Sayles ENGL 1302 March, 13 2004 The Tyger is perhaps, apart from the words to the hymn Jerusalem the best known of all Blake’s work. As the contrary poem to The Lamb, The Tyger is straight from the heart of the Songs of Experience. The Tyger it is a poem that addresses our constant struggle to decode, interpret and master the world around us, as well as a satire on the ways we attempt to carry this task out, I prefer to interpret The Tyger as a poem that addresses the creation of evil in the world. The Tyger is a poem full of rich, powerful imagery and sound. We will address Blake’s use of the variations within it as a mechanism used to communicate to the reader this attack on the Establishment. Metrically, The Tyger is principally trochaic which creates a forceful drum-beat reflecting the power of both the tyger and its Creator. Beginning from the first two words; ‘Tyger / Tyger’ this heavy, steady rhythm continues almost throughout and reinforcing it is the repetition of the first stanza as the last. The one small change made the substitution of Dare for Could is important as it creates a double stress tyger, evil, power, poem, creator, lines, first, two, through, stresses, stanza, line, creation, both, , immense, heavy, frame, world, tyger’s, three, sound, seems, rhythm, repetition, read, last, heart, even, establishment, control, blake’s, ‘dare, words, within, using