Enjambment is a formal device that appears when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. This kind of repetition, in addition to the broader refrain that’s used in ‘The Tyger,’ helps create a memorable rhythm. For example, “burning bright” in line one and “frame and “fearful” in line 4 of the first stanza. The latter is one of the most important as Blake alludes to the major question at the heart of the poem, if God created the tiger, what kind of creator is he? By referring to the tiger’s fearsome nature throughout the piece, Blake is, in turn, referring to the darker sides of life itself.Īlliteration is a common type of repetition that’s concerned with the use and reuse of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. The poet seems worried as to how the creator shaped such a magnificent creature, but more so, what/who is the creator himself?īlake makes use of several literary devices in ‘The Tyger.’ These include but are not limited to alliteration, enjambment, and allusion.

The poem, at times, is all about questions to the divine, with at least thirteen different questions asked in the poem’s entirety. The first and last stanzas are similar to the word ‘could’ and ‘dare’ interchanged. The poem slowly points out the final question. The poem is written in a neat, regular structure with even proportions. The hammering is relevant to the blacksmith mentioned within the text. The poem flows with a rhythmic synchronization (AABB) with a regular meter ( trochaic tetrameter catalectic). ‘The Tyger’ by William Blake consists of six stanzas, with each stanza consisting of four lines. This creature portrays the destructive side of God, the creator, as Percy Bysshe Shelley projects in his revolutionary poem ‘Ode to the West Wind.’ Through this reference, the poet clarifies that God, with his diplomatic hands, symmetrically framed his creation long before the advent of humankind.

The poem’s title showcases the central figure, a tiger, spelled as “Tyger.” Blake uses the term’s archaic spelling to present the world just after God created it. The poet wonders how the creator would have felt after completing his creation. The poem primarily questions the existence of God and his metaphysical attributes, referring to the tiger’s multiple corporeal characteristics as purely a work of art. Each stanza poses specific questions with a vague subject in consideration. It, in essence, is a poem where the poet asks the tiger about its creator and his traits. ‘The Tyger’ by William Blake slowly and gradually leads to some troubling questions. However, its strong, resonating rhyming drives the key concept in the reader’s mind efficiently. ‘ The Tyger‘ by William Blake yields many interpretations.

The Tyger by Tegan Moore