Composition

When analysing a poem like “The Tyger” by William Blake, it is always good idea to start by looking at the overall composition and the way it is structured in terms of stanzas, verses, beginning, subdivision, etc.

Outer composition

“The Tyger” is comprised of six stanzas, each of four lines or verses. This type of stanza is also known as quatrain. The verses rhyme two by two, in couplets.

Rhetorical questions are defining to the poem; all stanzas end with a rhetorical question, as the poet calls into question religion and religious beliefs about good and evil. In total, 13 rhetorical questions are used in the poem.

The title indicates that the poem is going to be about a tiger, yet we do not know what type of tiger it is. However, since the word is spelled with ‘y’ instead of ‘i...