1. William Blake – The Tyger

2. Where does it go…? The Tyger is a poem that goes into the THOUGHT section – one of just two! You can use it alongside the Browning poem – My Last Duchess.

3. Who is William Blake? • From childhood he believed in the power of the supernatural. • He thought that there was evidence of God in the works of nature and that if you looked hard nature would show it to you. • Blake was an engraver by trade and made and illustrated all of his own works by hand. • He was politically revolutionary and got into trouble in his republican views.

4. First look at Blake’s illustration…what do you notice? • Colours of fire and ashes • These match the tiger • The darkness of the tree • Notice that these tie into the words of the poem.

5. How to approach the poem. • The poem is tricky because it looks simple, and like there isn’t much to say about it. • However it a poem that is full of deeper meanings. • We will do look at both meanings.

6. The simple stuff • On the surface the poem is pretty simple – it describes a Tiger. • You can see that all the questions and lines build up a picture of the animal. • Look for adjectives that describe the tiger and underline them.

7. Unpicking the deeper meanings… • Blake believed that God was a kind of Blacksmith that had fashioned the world like smiths fashion horseshoes. • He also believed that God was a kind of artist who had made the world incredibly beautifully and artistically. • Look for words that suggest artists or blacksmiths and underline them… • Just like some people question the existence of God – Blake tries to show it through a series of Rhetorical Questions.

8. Cool stuff with rhythm… • We’re going to try beating out a rhythm to the tiger – I will read it and you bang your hands on the desk. • What does it make you think of? • What about the idea of a Blacksmith’s hammer? • How about a kind of tribal beat? • How does that fit with ideas of what God should be like? • How does the beat fit with the idea of what a Tiger should be like?

9. Stanza 1 Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? • = Fierce Tiger in the forest - who made you?

10. Stanza 2 In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire? • = Where were you created in fire? • = Who dared to make you of such fiery stuff?

11. 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? • = Who could have been strong AND skilful enough? • = And when you came alive who wouldn’t be scared?

12. 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? • = What tools were used to make you? • = Who dared to make you?

13. Stanza 5 When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? • = When the maker finished was he pleased? • = Is it possible one God made fierce and gentle things?

14. Stanza 6 Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? • = Tiger, who made you?

15. Deeper stuff 2… • The poem suggests a possible contradiction in God’s creation – what is it? • What does the Tyger represent? • Evil? Violence? Predation? Suffering? • What about the idea that God made the world in his own image – what does the Tyger suggest about God?