Language and style

We will now turn our attention to the language and the style of the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake and pinpoint some specific analytical elements the author uses in order to enhance the text.

Playing with the language

William Blake’s poem is occasionally playing with language. The author creates images that seem to have nothing in common and surprises the readers with a playful language.

Take, for instance, the tiger “burning bright” (l. 1). Obviously, the tiger cannot really burn bright. The poet actually tries to suggest that the tiger is like a being of fire which, in its turn, is a symbol for hell in the poem.

Another example of playful language is the depiction of what we may assume to be the fall of Lucifer. The fallen angels are associated with falling stars:

“When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears:” (ll. 17-18)

Lastly, the repetition of the word “Tyger Tyger” (l. 1, l. 21) makes the poem sound like a playful riddle for children when, in fact, the poet deals with quite a deep topic.

Tense of the verbs

The poet mixes past tense simple with present tense simple and conditionals, mainly in the interrogative form.

The present tense simple is used when the poet talks about the tiger and the creator whose existence is a fact and cannot be denied: “dare he aspire” (l. 7) “dare seize” (l. 8), “dare frame” (l. 24)

The past tense simple is used when the speaker reflects on the tiger’s creation or the fall of the angels, which happened in a very distant past: “began” (l. 11)...