Perspectives

To enhance your understanding of “The Tyger” by William Blake and engage in a meaningful dialogue about the text, it is useful to put the poem into perspective.

Time or periodical perspective

The poem was published in 1794, in a collection titled “Songs of Experience”. This suggests that the author tried to express his views on certain topics based on his life experiences. Hence, it is not surprising that “The Tyger” is a rather deep poem, featuring existential questions, in spite of its playful tone.

Do you think Blake’s poem was not very popular in his time, precisely because of the complexity of the themes he approached? Consider that, at the end of the eighteenth century, not many people were literate, and if they were they rarely went into deep philosophical studies.

Relevance today

Do you think the poem is still relevant today?

Even though most of us today are educated and perfectly capable of understanding and interpreting Blake’s p...