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Questions 

One of the most readily notable aspects of “The Tyger” is the fact that it consists entirely of questions. The speaker pursues an extended line of questioning, asking the tiger about the nature of its creator in order to speculate about what kind of creator would allow such fearsomeness into the world. The speaker’s questioning attitude is notable for several reasons. First, by leading with questions, the speaker showcases an innately curious mind. Rather than assume to already possess definitive knowledge, he or she attempts to expand a personal sphere of understanding by questioning the logic of the surrounding world. In doing so, the speaker also reveals the tension between doubt and belief. On the one hand, he or she clearly believes that there is some kind of creator who is responsible for the creation of the world and all its creatures. Yet on the other hand, the speaker feels confused and even perturbed. If such a creator is equally capable of allowing good and evil, then what does that mean for the relationship between the creator and his creations? How can we make sense of the intentions of such a maker? These questions reveal much about the mind of the speaker.

References to a Forge

Throughout the poem the speaker makes several references to objects and activities that relate to a forge. A forge is a specialized type of workshop where metals are formed, either through heating and hammering, or through melting and casting. The centerpiece of any forge is thus a blazing fire that’s hot enough to melt metal into a molten liquid. The speaker clearly describes this type of workshop in the fourth stanza (lines 13–16):

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

The hammer, chain, furnace, and anvil all directly reference an imagined forge where the speaker imagines a creator fashioning the fearsome tiger. The speaker subtly references this forge elsewhere in the poem as well. In the opening stanza, for instance, the speaker asks about “what immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry” (lines 3–4). A slightly-altered version of this question is asked again in the closing stanza. In both cases, though, the use of the word frame references the process of hammering heated metal into a new shape. The speaker also mentions “fire” twice in the second stanza. Taken together, these references evoke a workshop where a creator forged all the creatures of the world.

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