Who's with me in thinking that the tiger is THE most beautiful animal of all of God's creations? The coloring, markings, eyes, and graceful movements are stunning.
The poem below, also one of my favorites, has one flaw: the poet didn't seem to know Who created the "tyger." The Creator of all things created the tiger beautifully, of course.
Enjoy.
The Tyger
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, and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and 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 watered 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?
--William Blake, 1794
"'The Tyger' is about having your reason overwhelmed at once by the beauty and the horror of the natural world. 'When the stars threw down their spears / And watered heaven with their tears' is the most difficult section of 'The Tyger.'" In the creation story in 'Job,' the stars sing for joy at creation, a scene that Blake illustrated . . . Blake greatly appreciated the explosion of scientific knowledge during his era. But there is something about seeing a Tyger that you can't learn from a zoology class. The sense of awe and fear defy reason. And Blake's contemporary 'rationalists' who had hoped for a tame, gentle world guided by kindness and understanding must face the reality of the Tyger."
-- from "Understanding William Blake's 'The Tyger'" by Ed Friedlander, M.D.
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