Miller 1

Krystal Miller 17 February 2012

The Tyger The poem The Tyger by William Blake is a poem that talks about the French control over Europe in the 18th century. The protagonist in the poem, a tiger, symbolizes the French government and is described negatively which suggests that there is a characteristic or action of the government that is problematic and/or controversial. Although the exact problem is not clear in The Tyger, the poem does mention some characteristics of the tiger that reinforces the problematic control the French government had towards the European countries at that point in time. During the time The Tyger was published in 1794, there were numerous wars going on in Great Britain, which marked the French Revolution. The war started as a result of the negative control of the French government which greatly affected the economic and social state of neighboring European countries. Therefore, as a result of the economic and political turmoil, the neighboring European countries declared war against France in order to rid themselves from the French government. The poem, The Tyger, was written as a direct response to the French Revolutionary wars and the radical control that the French government had on Great Britain. In The Tyger, the tiger symbolizes the French government. The speaker of the poem uses detailed descriptions in order to give the audience a glimpse into the characteristics of the French government at this moment in time by means of its symbol- the tiger. The speaker exclaims, Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? (Blake 476). In this quote, the speaker describes the tiger as something to be feared. This makes sense since in its natural habitat the tiger is a creature to be feared. Therefore, the fact that a tiger is used as a protagonist in this particular poem is not far-fetched. The French government is seen as something fearful in Europe at that time due to its negative influence on society in terms of its politics and economic influence. In line with the tiger as an object to be feared, the speaker goes on to say, What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? (476). In the wild, the tiger attacks its prey using its claws, and the speaker of The Tyger uses this metaphor to describe the deadly figurative hold the French government had upon Europe in the late 1790s.