Analysis of The Tyger

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forest of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And What shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

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?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?


Scheme AaBc ddxx eeff gghh xxcc AaBc
Poetic Form Quatrain  (33%)
Metre 1010101 0010101 1010111 11110100 0110111 1010111 1111101 10111010 0110011 1101111 01110111 1110111 1010101 0110111 1010111 1110101 1011111 01010111 1111111 11110111 1010101 0010101 1010111 11110100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 749
Words 143
Sentences 19
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 101
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified by davidb on September 02, 2021

42 sec read
1,617

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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