Lootens 1 Charli Lootens ENG 300 Dr.

Colburn 2/3/14 De-Framing Thy Fearful Symmetry William Blakes The Tyger examines the assumption that one creator (God) made all creatures on Earth, including those as diverse as the Tyger and the Lamb. Throughout the poem, the speaker develops three characters: the Tyger, the Lamb, and God. The Tyger begins as just a dangerous creature, but ends with an association to pain and suffering. The Lamb serves only as a contrast for the Tygers ruthlessness. God is at first an ill-conceived being, who may or may not exist. Blakes Tyger embodies the doubt and curiosity mankind has for spiritual truth. The poem begins with the exclamation Tyger! Tyger! as if the speaker is addressing the poem to the actual creature. The description of the Tyger as burning bright has a dual connotation: bright orange color or the fiery ferocity of the Tygers spirit. The second line, In the forests of the night, lends the Tyger a sense of exotic mystery and danger. In his line What immortal hand or eye, Blake acknowledges the existence of God or, at the least, a God-like being. The speakers tone here reveals a search for truth. His final line of the first stanza (Could frame they fearful symmetry?), forms the question: who or what has the power to create? This image is compounded on by the connotation the word frame carries. This leads to the notion that the creator is seen as an artist. The second stanza continues on this thought by questioning the form of this immortal being (on what wings dare he aspire), where they could possibly reside (distant deeps or skies), and the process of early creation for the Tyger. The speaker aligns the Tyger with images

Lootens 2 of hell in his askance of the fire of thine eyes. In this stanza the speaker identifies the creator as a man and parallels him to humans by asking, what the hand dare seize the fire? This line begins the extended metaphor in the poem of the creator as a blacksmith. In the third stanza, the image of the creator as an artist is once again called forth as the speaker asks what shoulders, & what art/Could twist the sinews of thy heart? This imagery also suggests that the creators work requires a certain level of skill and technique. The creators form is compared to that of a human a second time with the line What dread hand? & what dread feet? The metaphor of a blacksmith in a smithy is continued in the fourth stanza as tools such as hammers, anvils, chains, and furnaces are used by the creator. The question what dread grasp/Dare its deadly terrors clasp? invokes a sense of strength within the creator. This being is strong enough to control his deadly creation. The fifth stanza gives the reader a glimpse at other inhabitants of the creators abode. The stars that threw down their spears,/And waterd heaven with their tears are clearly angels. This reference to the angels indicates a parallel between the war in heaven as Lucifer was being cast down and the impending conflict on Earth that this deadly predators presence will cause. This line also links the Tyger to the evil, pain and suffering within the world. This point is only emphasized by the next two lines: Did he smile his work to see?/Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Here, the speaker answers his initial question. By asking if the creator of the Lamb (of God) made the Tyger, the speaker admits that God is the creator. The way the speaker says these lines gives the impression that the conclusion he arrived at was in his mind the whole time and he was just affirming something he already knew. The third line (Did he smile his work to see?) equates the Tyger with unsavory things once more as well as creating a parallel with

Lootens 3 humanity. In asking if God was happy with his work, the speaker acknowledges that He is the creator of all life. The final stanza is almost an exact replica of the first. This serves to come back to the original query of the poem. However, the last line is changed to say, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry. This word choice, changed from could, denotes the realization the speaker had that God is the creator. It also brings up a new question, Why? Why would God create such a creature when He knows it is a deadly predator and will only serve as the downfall of his other creations (the Lamb, humans)? The Tyger is a commentary on Gods decision to create two creatures that will only be a burr in the backside of the other. On a similar note, this leads to the matter of why God would create humans and give them free will, only to punish them when they exercise it (Adam and Eve thrown out of paradise). Such a powerful being, able to control the ferocious Tyger, surely knows the consequences of his actions as well as the pain and suffering they will reap. Continuing in this thread, perhaps the Tyger was created as a divine punishment, to make life for humans harder after Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden of Eden. The Tygers fearful symmetry would suggest a divine purpose or perhaps even retribution on those who sinned against him. With the embodiment of evil and suffering roaming the Earth, humans will have to fight for their existence.