20. English Poetry Comprehension

​What words come to mind when you think of a tiger?

​What do these words suggest about the way we view tigers?

​William Blake (1757-1827): A Romantic poet, artist, and visionary.

• Key fact: The Tyger is one of Blake’s most famous poems and is part of his collection Songs of Experience.

​Let's read the poem 'The Tyger' by William Blake together and then we will listen to an audio recording!

​https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xrqnLUqP4f_taXpHbQjZIBkd1moVfMaLhFuQ0YflLH4/edit?usp=sharing

How does the poem make you feel?

​One of the main themes of the poem is the mystery of the creation

1. The Poem is Full of Questions

   • The poet keeps asking: Who made the tiger?

   • He doesn’t give answers—he wants us to think about it.

   • Example question from the poem:

     • “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (Did the same creator make both the gentle lamb and the fierce tiger?)

       This creator is often thought of as God

1. The Creator’s Power

   • The poet describes the tiger as strong, dangerous, and beautiful.

   • He wonders: Was the creator kind, or powerful and fearless?

   • This makes us question how such a powerful creature could be made.

1. The Creator as a Blacksmith

   • The poet imagines the creator as a blacksmith making the tiger in a fiery forge.

   • Words like hammer, chain, anvil, furnace suggest the tiger was made with great power.

   • This is an extended metaphor

Can you spot any literary devices in the poem?

Can you find one of each of the following?

1. Alliteration

2. Metaphor

3. Personification

Answers on the next slide!

Can you spot any literary devices in the poem?

Can you find one of each of the following?

1. Alliteration – “burning bright” (repetition of ‘b’ sound for emphasis)

2. Metaphor – “Burnt the fire of thine eyes” (the tiger’s intensity compared to fire)

3. Personification – “When the stars threw down their spears” (stars behaving like warriors)

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



can you identify the rhyming couplet structure in this poem?

​The poem follows a rhyming couplet structure: AABB

• The rhythm makes the poem sound like a chant or song

• The repetition of “Tyger, Tyger, burning bright” gives a powerful effect

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?

You can see it in the next stanza as well!

​The poem repeatedly asks who could have made such a powerful creature.

• The poet imagines the creator as a blacksmith, forging the tiger’s heart in a furnace.

• The tiger is both beautiful and terrifying, making us question the nature of creation.

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

Why might Blake have chosen a tiger instead of another animal?


A) Tigers are fierce and majestic
B) Tigers live in forests
C) Tigers are common animals
D) Tigers are small and weak

​The Power of Questions in the Poem

• The poem is written entirely in questions

• Blake does not give answers – he wants the reader to think deeply

• This technique creates mystery and forces us to wonder about creation

​ What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

What does the phrase "dare frame thy fearful symmetry" suggest about the creator of the tiger?
A) The creator must be bold and incredible
B) The creator made a mistake
C) The tiger is an accident
D) The creator was afraid