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 sieze 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?
Credits
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and visionary who lived from 1757 to 1827, and is now regarded as one of the most original voices of the Romantic age. "The Tyger" was first published in his 1794 collection Songs of Experience, conceived as a dark counterpart to the innocence-themed "The Lamb" from his earlier Songs of Innocence. His work, largely unrecognised during his lifetime, has since become central to the study of English literature and mystical thought.
