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"The Tyger" is a poem by the English Poet William Blake . The poem was published as part of his collection '' Songs Of Experience '' and was written sometime around 1794 . It is one of Blake's best known poems. It is also one of the most analyzed of his poems. GNOSTIC THEMES In both form and subject the poem closely follows his earlier work " The Lamb " that was part of his '' Songs Of Innocence '' collection. He references this work in the fifth stanza with the question "Did He who made the lamb make thee?". While "The Lamb" lauded a noble and gentle God, "The Tyger" looks at the God who created death and misery in the world. The poem is an exploration of Gnostic thought, which very much interested Blake. This is heavily inspired by the works of John Milton , of whom Blake sometimes considered himself a successor. The lines "On what wings dare he aspire?/What the hand dare seize the fire?" can be seen as a reference to the story of Prometheus or that of '' Paradise Lost '' and begins the speculation that Lucifer may also have played a role in creating the universe. The lines from the fifth stanza "When the stars threw down their spears/ And watered heaven with their tears," are also often considered to be a reference to ''Paradise Lost''. INDUSTRIALIZATION Blake was one of the most noted Romantic poets and like them he saw the pastoral country side as idyllic and viewed industrialization as a blight. "The Tyger" uses many images of the industrial world: fire, hammers, anvils, and furnaces all convey an image of the "satanic mills" of the nineteenth century. EXPERIENCE "The Tyger" was published as a part of ''Songs of Experience'' and the poem can also be seen as dealing with the growing knowledge of the world as one ages. While "The Lamb" is grounded in the pastoral settings of Blake's youth "The Tyger" is set in the industrialized modernity. "The Tyger" reflects a knowledge that evil exists in the world and that benevolence is not omnipresent. Similarly, the Tyger poses an exceptional theological question. The tiger is very beautiful, but it is also very dangerous, a creature capable of great destruction. If God created the tiger, then, what does this say about God? ALLUSIONS TO THE POEM The third story in '' The Jungle Book '' by Rudyard Kipling is titled '' Tiger! Tiger! '' The title of Northrop Frye 's first groundbreaking work on Blake '' Fearful Symmetry '' is a quote from the poem. Henry Cowell declared that his fearsome solo piano composition ''Tiger'' (ca. 1928) "was suggested originally by William Blake's poem on 'Tyger, tyger, burning bright.'" There is also a reference to the poem in the song "Every New Day" by Five Iron Frenzy , which quotes the first two lines of one of the stanzas, "When the stars threw down their spears, watered heaven with their tears..." The song "William Blake" by Daniel Amos makes several references to the poem. In fact, Blake's inspiration surfaces quite frequently in the work of D.A. frontman Terry Scott Taylor , including an album named after a line in this poem, '' Fearful Symmetry ''. In an episode of The Suburban Jungle , the poem is used as the "soundtrack" for a Flashback sequence {Link without Title} Tangerine Dream 's song ''Tyger'', on their album of the same name, is the poem set to music. Alfred Bester 's novel '' The Stars My Destination '' was originally published as ''Tiger! Tiger!''. Alan Moore 's and Dave Gibbons ' Watchmen features an entire chapter which revolves around a bit of text from this poem. The novel and movie, '' The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys '' references this poem several times. In a strip of Bill Watterson 's comic Calvin And Hobbes , Calvin makes reference to Blake's poem while watching his stuffed tiger sleep. In the TV show there is an episode entitled "Tyger, Tyger". The episode is an interpretation of the poem, with Catwoman as the guest villainess. Episode 18 of the second season of The X-Files was titled ''Fearful Symmetry''. The story involved bizarre occurrences at a zoo. A character labeled "Mr. Big" ( Martha Plimpton ), who appears in episodes 12 and 13 of the TV show ''Surface'' quotes lines from the poem. Part 3 of " Farenheit 451 " by Ray Bradbury is called 'Burning Bright', which is in the fist line of this poem, and the section of the book also deals with simialar themes as this poem TOPICS ON THE SPELLING OF ''TYGER'' Rumor has it that Blake specifically chose the Old English spelling of "tyger" (over the standard English of " Tiger ") because that particular version of the word evoked a more terrifying imagery and deeper visceral reaction from the reader 1 . A similar idea is also said to have motivated A. A. Milne , Author of the Winnie The Pooh illustrated children's books, in the naming of his Tigger character. Since the word " Tiger " invoked a more menacing image, A. A. Milne supposedly chose to soften the name, by adding the extra "g" to " Tiger ", so that the Tigger character would appear less threatening to his readership 2 . SEE ALSO Trochee EXTERNAL LINKS
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