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How does William Blake use alliteration or assonance in "The Tyger" to emphasize certain lines?
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William Blake uses alliteration in "The Tyger" to emphasize the poem's intensity and dark themes. Examples include "Tyger Tyger, burning bright" and "dread hand" and "dread feet," which create a rhythm that mimics the tiger's danger. The repetition of sounds like "t," "b," and "d" enhances the ominous and threatening nature of the tiger, reinforcing the poem's duality and dark undertones.
In his famous poem "The Tyger," William Blake uses frequent alliteration and a simple rhyme scheme, both of which give the poem a somewhat sing-song rhythm. Those qualities and the simplicity of the language may lead readers to believe this is like a nursery rhyme or a song for children. However, those features actually contrast the dark message of the poem.
The line "Tyger Tyger, burning bright," which is repeated in the poem to begin the first and last stanzas, is probably the best example of alliteration. The repetition of "Tyger" and the double "T" sound, followed by the two "b" sounds, creates a bit of intensity that never really lets up in the poem. The driving rhythm is associated with the danger represented by the tyger itself. The last two lines of the first stanza ask,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
The...
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"f" sounds in line 4 accompany the idea that the tyger was made to be threatening and dangerous. Only an "immortal hand" could make such a beautiful but scary "symmetry" in the creature.
As the poem continues, Blake refers to "distant deeps" in which the tyger's eyes were created. The alliteration works to emphasize and reinforce the ominous nature of the tyger and its creation. This is also true a couple of stanzas later, when the speaker refers to the tyger's "dread hand" and "dread feet." The word "dread" itself, its repetition, and the alliteration on the "d" consonant all add to the effect. Throughout the poem there is a proliferation of "d" words, like "dare," "did," and "dread," as just noted above. All of these sounds pair with the driving and intense rhythm created by the "t" and "b" sounds in the first line of the poem.
Blake's poem does not seem to feature assonance, or at least not to as great an effect as alliteration. The alliteration is accompanied by the rhyme scheme and ominous imagery to create the idea that the tyger is sublimely beautiful but also threatening.
Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound, within a line of poetry. Similarly, assonance is also when a sound is repeated within a line of poetry, but it is the repetition of a vowel sound.
In William Blake's "The Tyger," the alliteration and assonance serve to make specific lines of the poem stand out. For example, the first line is alliterative in two places: "Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright." Here both the "t" and the "b" sound are repeated. Essentially, the "t" and "b"are rather harsh sounds. The accompaniment of the exclamation point adds to the intensity of the first line. It is not only seen as yelling, it is seen as speaking down at the tiger as well.
Assonance, given the repetition of a vowel is heard, is much softer. It seems that the speaker of the poem wanted to get the tiger's attention, and then, once received, decided to change his (assumed given the gender of the poet) tone (as if the tiger turned and glared at the speaker).
The speaker's questions come from pure lack of knowledge. The speaker is questioning how the tiger, a creature of God, could be constructed by the same hands which made the lamb. This, too, adds to the back and forth nature of the alliteration and assonance (it seems the speaker is speaking loudly about the tiger and softly about the lamb).
The overall effect of the alliteration and assonance allow certain lines to stand out based upon how one reads the poem. At times, when the line is filled with assonance, the lines come out softer and more musical). When the lines are filled with alliteration, the lines are harsher and more demanding.