The Romantics believed that they could find the spirit of God through nature. They believed this because they thought (at least many of them did) that since God created the natural world, this world was infused with traces of his divinity. They often depicted nature as a place of solace to the soul and thought of it as a space of purity, where one could escape the corruptions of the city. They also moved away from rationalism and found themselves attracted to the mysterious.
Because Blake, a Romantic, believed that nature was an expression of the divine, he was compelled to question why God created such a frightening and predatory beast as a tiger. A tiger is a beautiful creature, but it doesn't align with Christian concepts of God as a "lamb" in the form of Jesus or of nature as a gentle place filled with soothing flowers, butterflies, and babbling brooks.
The tiger represents to Blake the mystery of the sublime. In the sublime, the Romantics found the awe and terror of God made manifest. Usually, Romantics found the thrill of the sublime in beautiful but frightening landscapes, such as mountaintops or the edges of cliffs, but here, Blake finds it in the tiger. In his poem, Blake ponders the sublime mystery of why God created such a fearsome creature.
Blake's work often falls into its own category; he was a philosopher, a spiritualist, a visionary. His work, however, is clearly romantic in the tradition of Romanticism as it developed in Europe and then in the United States. "The Tyger" reflects Romanticism in its basic subject and content. Blake raises and explores a primary spiritual question: the very nature of God. Romantics turned away from conventional thinking, rejected the conventional teachings of the Church and State, and focused instead on the individual and his relationship to the universe around him. In "The Tyger," Blake does not define God according to Church doctrine, but instead examines and questions the nature and the mystery of God. The poem also emphasizes beauty, although it is a fearsome kind of beauty. "The Tyger," then, is an example of Romanticism for its elements of spirituality, mystery, and beauty.
Can we call "The Tyger" a romantic poem?
It is worthy of note that the third principal poet of the earliest phase of the Romantic movement in England was William Blake. Certainly, then, Blake's poem entitled "The Tyger" can be considered a Romantic poem. This poem explodes with the imagination, emotion, lyricism, and spiritual vision that characterized the Romantic movement.
As Blake addresses the tiger, he alludes to God and the supernatural.
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Further, Blake personifies the animal and addresses it as though it were a creature of more than the natural world.
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
Throughout the verses, the poet makes references to nature—references that are characteristic of Romantic literature. Such references to nature are those that mention the skies, the stars, night, heaven, water, fire, and the forests.
This poem's exuberance, lyricism, musical verse, and interest in the mysterious make it an excellent example of Romantic poetry.
Can we call "The Tyger" a romantic poem?
"The Tyger" is an example of Romantic poetry. It was published by William Blake in 1794 during the Romantic Period of British literature, generally considered 1785 - 1830. Three qualities of Romanticism displayed in the poem are strong senses, emotions, and feelings; awe of nature; and the importance of imagination.
"The Tyger" appeals to the senses and is a very emotional poem. References to fire, hammer, anvil, chain, sinews, and furnace create rich visual imagery. Passages such as "In what distant deeps or skies/ Burnt the fire of thine eyes?" and "When the stars threw down their spears" are quite evocative. The series of rhetorical questions produces emotions such as awe, fear, and doubt. Phrases such as "dare its deadly terrors clasp" and "water'd heaven with their tears" reflect strong feelings in the writer that are duplicated in the reader.
Since the poem examines a living creature in hyperbolic terms, it shows great awe of nature. The tiger seems to take on mythical proportions as the poet questions what kind of Supreme Being could have formed so fierce an animal.
The poem is also highly imaginative. Rather than just seeing a tiger as a natural phenomenon to be studied scientifically, the poem imagines the power and motivation behind the creative force that produced it. The poem uses metaphor and analogy to compare the forming of the living creature to blacksmithing in some heavenly forge. The poet attributes a heart with twisted sinews beating within the tiger. The advent of the tiger on earth is accompanied by crying stars throwing down their spears.
Because it displays strong senses and emotions, an awe of nature, and powerful imagination, "The Tyger" can be classified as a Romantic poem.
Further Reading
Can we call "The Tyger" a romantic poem?
"The Tyger" is clearly an example of English Romanticism; several elements of the Romantic literary movement are found in the poem: the exploration of nature and the emphasis upon beauty, mystery, and a supernatural or divine presence. The tiger in Blake's poem is a creature of the natural world; it is fierce yet quite beautiful, "burning bright." It inspires a sense of awe in the poet. The central mystery in the poem is the origin of the tiger--more precisely, the identity and the nature of the divine being that created it. Did the same loving God who created the gentle lamb also create the fierce, cruel, powerful tiger? And if so, why? Thus "The Tyger" seeks to know and understand the mysterious workings of God, an important Romantic theme in literature. For the poet to consider such spiritual mysteries is also suggestive of Romanticism, which explores the inner life of the self rather than man's role in society.
See eNotes Ad-Free
Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
Already a member? Log in here.