🐯 The Tyger –

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🐯 The Tyger – William Blake | Summary, Meaning & Analysis

Author: William Blake
Collection: Songs of Experience (1794)
Poetic Form: Lyric poem / Symbolic poem
Number of Stanzas: 6
Lines: 24
Rhyme Scheme: AABB
Meter: Trochaic Tetrameter

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📖 Summary of “The Tyger”

The Tyger describes a fearsome and beautiful tiger burning brightly in the darkness of the forest. The poet asks a series of rhetorical questions about who could create such a powerful and terrifying creature. Blake imagines the tiger being forged like in a blacksmith’s workshop, emphasizing its strength and energy. He also compares the tiger to the gentle lamb from Songs of Innocence, reflecting the contrast between innocence and experience. The poem highlights the mystery of creation and the coexistence of good and evil in the world.

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🎯 Key Themes

• Mystery of creation

• Power and violence

• Innocence vs. experience

• Good vs. evil

• Awe and wonder

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✨ Symbols

Symbol	Meaning
Tiger	Experience, power, energy, fear
Lamb	Innocence, gentleness
Fire	Creative energy, divine force
Blacksmith imagery	Strength, forging, creation

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📝 Literary Features

• Rhetorical questions: Emphasizes mystery and wonder

• Alliteration & repetition: Tyger Tyger, burning bright

• Imagery: Fire, night, hammer, furnace

• Trochaic tetrameter: Gives a hammering, rhythmic effect

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🧠

• 6 stanzas, 24 lines

• AABB rhyme scheme

• Part of Songs of Experience

• Companion poem: The Lamb (Songs of Innocence)

• Explores the contraries of creation

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🔑 Famous Lines

“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,

📚 Collection

• From Songs of Experience (1794)

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📏 Number of Stanzas

• 6 stanzas

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📐 Lines

• 24 lines total

• Each stanza = 4 lines (quatrain)

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🧾 Poetic Form

• Lyric poem

• Symbolic poem

• Visionary / philosophical poem

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🎼 Rhyme Scheme

• AABB in every stanza

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🧱 Meter

• Mainly Trochaic Tetrameter
  (Strong, hammer-like rhythm → suits theme of forging)

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🎭 Tone

• Awe

• Fear

• Wonder

• Mystery

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🐯 Central Symbol

• Tiger = Experience, power, violence, energy

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🐑 Contrast Poem

• Paired with “The Lamb”

  • The Lamb → Innocence

  • The Tyger → Experience

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🧠 Type of Questions Asked in Exams

• Number of stanzas / lines

• Poetic form

• Collection name

• Symbolism

• Contrast with The Lamb

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⭐ One-Line Facts (Very Useful)

• The Tyger has 6 quatrains and 24 lines.

• It follows AABB rhyme scheme.

• It belongs to Songs of Experience.

Stanza 1

“Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Explanation:
The poet describes the tiger glowing brightly in the dark forest. He wonders which immortal (divine) power could create such a beautiful yet frightening animal. The tiger’s body is perfectly formed but also terrifying.

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Stanza 2

“In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?”

Explanation:
Blake asks where the tiger’s fierce energy came from—heaven or hell. He compares the tiger’s creation to stealing fire, suggesting great courage and power were needed to create it.

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Stanza 3

“And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?”

Explanation:
The poet imagines the physical strength needed to form the tiger’s heart and body. The creator must be powerful and fearless to shape such a dangerous creature.

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Stanza 4

“What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!”

Explanation:
The tiger’s creation is compared to a blacksmith’s work. The poet suggests the tiger was forged with heat and force, showing violence and strength in its making.

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Stanza 5

“When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

Explanation:
The stars symbolize angels or heavenly beings who are shocked by the tiger’s creation. The poet asks an important question: is the same God who made the gentle lamb also resp

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Stanza 6

“Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Explanation:
The poem ends by repeating the opening stanza. This time, the word “dare” replaces “could,” showing that the creator was brave enough to create such a terrifying being.

Q1. Who is the poet of The Tyger?
A) William Wordsworth
B) William Blake
C) Percy Bysshe Shelley
D) John Keats

Answer: B) William Blake
Explanation: Blake wrote The Tyger in Songs of Experience (1794).

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Q2. The Tyger is a part of which collection?
A) Lyrical Ballads
B) Songs of Innocence
C) Songs of Experience
D) Poems of Romantic Era

Answer: C) Songs of Experience
Explanation: It contrasts with The Lamb from Songs of Innocence.

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Q3. How many stanzas are in The Tyger?
A) 4
B) 6
C) 5
D) 8

Answer: B) 6
Explanation: The poem consists of 6 quatrains (6×4 = 24 lines).

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Q4. What is the rhyme scheme of The Tyger?
A) ABAB
B) AABB
C) ABCB
D) ABBA

Answer: B) AABB
Explanation: Each stanza follows a simple rhyming couplet pattern.

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Q5. Which meter is mainly used in The Tyger?
A) Iambic Pentameter
B) Trochaic Tetrameter
C) Free Verse
D) Dactylic Hexameter

Answer: B) Trochaic Tetrameter
Explanation: The strong “hammer-like” rhythm imitates the forging of the tiger.

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Q6. What does the tiger symbolize in the poem?
A) Innocence
B) Experience / Power / Violence
C) Nature
D) Love

Answer: B) Experience / Power / Violence
Explanation: The tiger represents the terrifying and powerful aspects of creation.

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Q7. Which poem is considered the counterpart of The Tyger?
A) Ode to the West Wind
B) The Lamb
C) The Chimney Sweeper
D) London

Answer: B) The Lamb
Explanation: Blake contrasts innocence (The Lamb) with experience (The Tyger).

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Q8. Which literary device dominates The Tyger?
A) Simile
B) Alliteration
C) Rhetorical questions
D) Personification

Answer: C) Rhetorical questions
Explanation: The poem consists mainly of questions about the tiger’s creation.

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Q9. Which theme is NOT central to The Tyger?
A) Mystery of creation
B) Power of nature
C) Transience of human life
D) Good vs evil

Answer: C) Transience of human life
Explanation: The poem focuses on creation, divine power, and moral opposites, not human mortality.

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Q10. What is the tone of the poem?
A) Playful
B) Calm and peaceful
C) Awe, fear, and wonder
D) Angry

Answer: C) Awe, fear, and wonder
Explanation: The poet is amazed and afraid of the tiger’s fearful symmetry and power.