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Paper 02 Module 22 Etext
Paper 02 Module 22 Etext
Subject: English
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In this module we shall survey the life and select works of one of the significant artists of the
Romantic period: William Blake. We shall begin with an introduction to the life of Blake
followed by an analysis and critical appreciation of one of his most often anthologized poems:
“The Tyger”. Both stylistic as well as thematic analysis of the poem will be done in this module.
“The Lamb”, another poem often seen alongside “The Tyger” will also be briefly discussed.
Poet, artist, engraver, William Blake is one of the most important personalities of the Romantics.
Born in London on 28 November 1757, Blake came to be known as a great artist and poet of his
times. His artistic abilities were evident as a child when he enrolled himself in a drawing school
and learnt to draw sketches of human figures by copying outlines from the plaster casts of
ancient sculptures. Blake is known for his illustrations and engravings even to this day.
He was an avid reader of the Bible and the Greek Classics. Shakespeare’s and Milton’s
works were highly influential in his artistic career. Since his parents could not afford his artistic
training for long, Blake sought an apprenticeship under engraver James Basire. His assignments
of sketching the Westminister Abbey are often considered as being instrumental in the stirrings
Blake was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts where he learnt and exhibited several
of his works. Following this, he was employed as a professional engraver working for Joseph
Johnson, a procurer of subversive literature. Blake also associated himself with some of the
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significant thinkers of his period: Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine, William Godwin; Rev.
Anthony S. and Harriet Matthew among others. Harriet Matthew and draftsman John Flaxman
were instrumental in funding the publication of Blake’s first book of poetry: Poetical Sketches,
published in 1783. His works were of both religious and secular nature. In 1784, Blake
establishes his own printing press which enabled him to publish his own works.
Blake is credited with developing the technique called “illuminated printing”: He made copper
plates engraved with his illustrations as well as his works and he prepared his own ink with
which he printed the poems on paper. Every illustration would then be later coloured by hand.
Through this process, Blake was able to produce works that were often commissioned and from
1789 onwards, several significant works were developed including the Songs of Innocence and
Blake’s works are replete with spiritual concerns. More often, these concerns coupled with the
political climate of the period(the American War of Independence and the French Revolution)
were highly influential in turning his works into the most radical of themes of the period. Visions
had been a part of his formative years and they were instrumental in his writings till his death.
Blake claimed to have seen angels; on another occasion, he is said to have sighted the spirit of
his brother Robert rise from the dead body at the time of his death. By the end of the eighteenth
century almost of his works became Biblical in nature and mysticism and divine mystery began
Blake also created some of his best known works including Milton, Jerusalem and also
illustrated Dante’s Divine Comedy. A childless couple, Blake and his wife Catherine Boucher
tried to alleviate their poverty through exhibition of his works in 1809 but the event was not
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well-attended and marked the nearing end of his artistic career. Blake died in 1827 at the age of
69 years.
Now let us turn to one of his most celebrated poems, “The Tyger”. A poem of 24 lines and
14 questions, it deals with the idea of creation: both the jungle cat as well as the work of art. Its
Now read the poem silently and note down images of grandeur and divinity from the poem. We
shall come back to look at some of these images more closely in the subsequent sections of this
module.
If you observe closely, the poem opens and closes with the same set of lines: it invokes the fierce
power of not just the fearsome tiger but also the one who created the being. The only difference
between the two stanzas is that the question in the stanzas considerably differs from each other.
The first stanza ends with the line “What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy fearful
symmetry?” and the last stanza with the lines ““What immortal hand or eye/ Dare frame thy
fearful symmetry?”
The tiger, we are told by the speaker, is not just any animal, but one that is “burning bright”.
This draws our attention to the majestic creature that the tiger is. The tiger is known for its bright
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and fiery fur that adds to its majesty. This ‘burning bright’ may also be read as referring to the
intense power that the tiger has. A lonesome creature, it walks “the forest of the night” fearlessly.
The speaker is awestruck by its beauty, its immense strength immediately wondering in awe
again: “What immortal hand or eye/Could frame they fearful symmetry?” This question becomes
the central concern of the entire poem: the creator and his creation. Invoking the hand and eye in
these lines also make the idea of the hand and sight of the creator involved in the creation of such
a majestic creature like the tiger. “Fearful symmetry” is another interesting image. Art is
fearful symmetry, the speaker emphasizes how its beauty is combined with its ability to wreak
havoc as a predator on its prey. The sublime nature of the Tiger – its appearance of beauty and
The second stanza asks the question of where the tiger was created. The following stanza
exhibits the powerful creature that the tiger is; this is done by invoking powerful images of fire.
The speaker wonders in which space of depth was the fire in the tiger’s eyes conceived? Don’t
the lines “In what distant deeps or skies/Burnt the fire of thine eyes?” bring to our mind the space
of a blacksmith, moulding and shaping the creation in the midst of fire and heavy tools? (The
tools appear in the images of hammer and chain in stanza 3.) If the creation is awe-inspiring and
fierce and mighty, wonders the speaker, what then of the creator Himself?
Obviously for Blake, a creature like the tiger was not created in this world, but in “distant
deeps or skies” referring to both hell as well as heaven respectively. One of the conventional
readings of the tiger has been that it symbolizes Lucifer, the fallen angel. This is also emphasized
by the reference to the wings in the line: “On what wings dare he aspire?” The recurrent
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invocation of fire-images emphasizes how Blake is drawing a picture of Hell, invoked also by
the image “forests of the night”. Harold Blooms remarks: “Like Lucifer, the tiger works alone
and inspires thoughts of death; it also is strong and beautiful, as the Bible portrays the fallen
angel”.(See Harold Bloom on “The Tyger” for more on this reading.) One of the fundamental
questions that seizes Blake’s imagination is not just the creation, but also the sublimity of its
creator.
By beginning to wonder about the creator, the speaker now asks if the tiger of such brute
force has been created, what about the strength of the creator himself? This is evident in the lines
“And what shoulder and what art/ Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began
We are then taken to the workplace of a blacksmith hard at his art work. In this stanza the
questions are much shorter and gain more pace. More number of questions begins to be asked.
The speaker turns to the creation again and wonders what would happen to the ones held by the
The brute strength of the tiger is so immense that the speaker observes how even the stars
give up their move to dominate the skies. The speaker then wonders what the creator Himself
must have thought about this creation: Was He happy to see the tiger? “Did he who made the
Lamb make thee?” wonders the speaker. Is the tiger then the opposite of the gentle-eyes lamb?
We must note here that “lamb” is a poem in the Songs of Innocence collection. The naivety of
the lamb is contrasted by the growing power of the tiger. Blake wishes the readers to see the
creator’s hand in each creation and closes the poem with the opening lines.
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One way to begin thinking about Blake’s Tyger is to ask the question “How does the tiger
assert itself in its environment?” In fact, what is its environment? By not providing a concrete
setting, but merely referring to a dark forest and deeps and skies, Blake has been able to keep the
setting and its themes nebulous. The tiger is an elusive creature, and keeping with this spirit the
Very often this poem is seen in contrast to the poem from the Songs of Innocence collection
Like “The Tyger”, “The Lamb” which appears in Blake’s Songs of Innocence begins with a
question about its creation, too. The speaker asks how the lamb was created; how it is a gentle
and meek creature, which implies its creator must be gentle and loving too. (Consider this in the
light of what we have discussed with regard to “The Tyger”: Blake wonders if the Tiger is
ferocious and sublime, its creator must be powerful and sublime too). For Blake innocence and
experience complement each other and one state must not be seen as being better than the other
state.
While Blake refers to the tiger’s appearance as burning bright, referring to its fiery coat,
Blake speaks of the Lamb’s appearance as “… clothing of delight,/ Softest clothing wooly
bright”. Both the poems when seen alongside each other clearly shows how there are no clear
divisions between the good and bad; between danger and security.
That the Lamb is also a Christian symbol of Christ as Lamb of God cannot be missed here.
Blake remarks how Christ himself was mild and meek. The poem underscores the Christ-like
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values of gentleness and meekness. When seen in opposition to the lamb, the Tiger does not
follow the flock. On the other hand, the tiger, we know, is an animal that learns from experience.
As a single, autonomous ruler of its environs, the Tiger gains its power from the knowledge
Points to Ponder:
• “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” are two most often anthologized poems of
William Blake. Think about why these two poems continue to hold the interest of the
• Blake was writing at a time when the European colonial project was
extending its tentacles across different continents. “The Tyger” was published in 1794
at a time when Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, put up a strong resistance to the
British forces in India. Read the poem in the light of this colonial encounter.
Romantic poets.
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• Blake was viewed as a madman in his times; he is now heralded for his immense
• Blake’s wife was illiterate; he taight her to read and write to help him with his drafts
• Blake wrote his text in reverse on the copper plates and then illustrated them
• Blake helped Thomas Paine escape to France when his Rights of Man was deemed
Storyboard
• His contemporaries
Section 2: Poem
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