Critical Analysis of William Blakes Poem The Tiger free essay sample

They both belong to a collection named â€Å"Songs of Innocence and Experience†. In â€Å"The Lamb†, the grand question â€Å"Who made thee? † is answered–Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, while in â€Å"The Tyger† it remains open. Admittedly, this has left much room for various speculations about the tiger and its creator. The perception of the image of the tiger has varied considerably. For example, for Wicksteed, in his 1928 study of the songs, the tiger is a representation of the Creator, God. For S. Damon, â€Å"The Lamb† is an incarnation of God’s forgiveness, while â€Å"The Tyger† of His punishment. Jessie Beer reckons the tiger to be a resemblance of Moby Dick. Jacob Bronowski believes the tiger to be â€Å"Christ†¦a symbol of energy burning in a darkening world. † There are some critics who see in the tiger even a representation of the Revolution in France or revolutions in general, such as Mark Schorer, David Erdman, Stuart Crehan. We will write a custom essay sample on Critical Analysis of William Blakes Poem The Tiger or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The diversity of views on the tiger has resulted in various suggestions for the poem’s ideological setting- religious, political, existential. All that partly justifies the assertion that the receptor of a poem is a kind of co-creator of the literary work. In this essay, I will try to make a critical analysis of the poem, paying special attention to the stance of the poetic speaker. Firstly, few words need to be said about the tiger’s reputation as an animal, in the author’s time. Thomas Bewick’s â€Å"A General History of Quadrupeds† describes it in the following way:† fierce without provocation, and cruel without necessity, its thirst for blood is insatiable†. At that time, the word tiger had turned into a trope for fear, terror and cruelty. For instance, on the seventh of January 1792, Times compares the French cruelty with that of tigers and wolves. All this means that by penning the image of his tiger, Blake had an awful and cruel animal in mind, one of the most ferocious and bloodthirsty â€Å"†¦Dare its deadly terrors clasp†. This is confirmed by the horror the poetic speaker feels, when speaking for the tiger and at times even losing his grammar. Allegedly, Blake might have seen a tiger in London in the traveling menageries. Secondly, special attention is to be paid to the image behind the animal. Many literary critics believe that the tiger is a kind of a cousin of Job’s Leviathan in the book of Job. Indisputably, many a Bible commentator agrees that this Leviathan is the Evil One. Not only that, but, the poetic speaker’s depiction of the tiger evokes other images from the Bible that lead us to such conclusions. For instance, the words: â€Å"burning bright in the forests of the night† burning bright refers to celestial beings in the Bible. The book of Ezekiel reads:†You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. † This is a text that refers to the Evil One before his fall. Before he had been cast out, he had been a cherub walking in the midst of fiery stones. Do these fiery stones not resemble Blake’s â€Å"burning bright†? Furthermore, there is another, even more famous passage from the Old Testament, which describes the Evil One in a similar way:† How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! † The word Lucifer came into the English Bible from Latin. In the original, the word used there is the Hebrew /haylel/ which meant â€Å"brightness†. Can the tiger be Lucifer himself? I believe so. The fifth stanza seems to bear stronger evidence for that. 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? I assume that this moment in the poem describes the Angels’ Fall. Stars are sometimes a representation of angels in the Scripture, and this is also suggested by some literary critics when they discussed â€Å"The Tyger†. Here I list only few Biblical passages confirming it: â€Å"The mystery of the seven stars which you saw†¦. the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches†, â€Å"When the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy†. The next quotation is even more interesting and akin to the fifth stanza â€Å"They fought from the heavens. The stars from their courses fought against Sisera. † And here is the major scripture event which I believe almost thoroughly overlaps with the fifth stanza: â€Å"And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer, so the great dragon was cast out†¦. and his angel were cast out with him† This is the moment when the tiger becomes what it is. Did God smile to see his work – Lucifer and the fallen angels? Did God really make them? Are they His work? And from that moment the â€Å"burning bright†, the cherub, who walked among the fiery stones, found himself in the forest of the night the night of darkness, chaos, hatred and death. Thirdly, it is necessary to note that there are also references to mythical heroes in the poem, For example:†on what wings dare he aspire? † might be a reference to Icarus. â€Å"What the hand, dare seize the fire† is probably a hint to Prometheus. In the same string of thoughts, I would like to insert some opinions about the creator of the tiger that differ from the above mentioned and generally put the poem into quite different setting. According to them, the Man is the creator of the tiger and â€Å"the deep forest of the night† is actually his mental darkness. Few words need to be said about the dissimilarity between the tiger in the text and the drawing. It is really perplexing because the picture shows rather a pathetic tiger. But as I am discussing the stance of the poetic speaker and not the artist’s drawings I will not pay special attention to this fact. In conclusion, I will again point out the fact that the question about the tiger’s origin remains unanswered. In â€Å"The Lamb†, it finds its response, and it is provided even by a small boy. Even small boys can grasp the idea of a good God who creates goodness. Yes, it is not difficult to explain the good things with God! But how can we explain evil? What about Lucifer, â€Å"the burning bright in the forest of the night†? Who created him? If God is good, how can he create such creatures? The question is deep and philosophical. It remains unanswered. If we accept that there is a kind of a connection between the Leviathan and the tiger, then the lack of a response reminds us of Job’s reluctance to provide answers: â€Å"†¦I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken but I will not answer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  [ 1 ]. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Romantic poetry and Prose,p. 25 [ 2 ]. The Gospel of John 1:29 [ 3 ]. The  Tyger An Annotated Bibliography University of Georgia http://www. english. uga. edu/wblake/SONGS/42/42bib. html [ 4 ]. ibid [ 5 ]. bid [ 6 ]. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Romantic poetry and Prose, p. 25 [ 7 ]. From H1984 (in the sense of brightness); [ 8 ]. The Latin meaning is similar [ 9 ]. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Romantic poetry and Prose, p. 26 [ 10 ]. Revelation 1:20 [ 11 ]. Job 38:7, God’s sons in the Bible are the archangels and stars here represent the angels [ 12 ]. Judges 5:20 [ 13 ]. Revelation 12:7-9 [ 14 ]. The Oxford Anthology of Eng lish Literature: Romantic poetry and Prose, p. 26 [ 15 ]. ibid [ 16 ]. Job 40:4-5