Skip to main content
Humanities LibreTexts

2.1.9.6: Songs of Experience- The Tyger

  • Page ID
    82981
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Songs of Experience: The Tyger

    Songs of Experience: The Tyger License: Public Domain William Blake

    Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

    In the forests 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, & what art,

    Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

    And when thy heart began to beat,

    What dread hand? & 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 water'd 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?


    This page titled 2.1.9.6: Songs of Experience- The Tyger is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Georgia, & Laura Ng (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.