Blakes The Tyger is simply about the evil of nature? Do you agree?

Blake’s choice of a tiger is significant to the poem as this is what he has chosen to embody nature. This poem was written in the late 18th century and at this time tigers would have been a rarity and it is highly likely that Blake had not actually seen a tiger first hand himself. This therefore gives the tiger a sense of mystery in Blake’s eyes and maybe through his and his audience’s lack of experience of this animal he is commenting on the mysterious side of nature. This unknown side of nature is also hinted at in the first stanza “in the forests of the night”. This choice of language creates an image of an unknown, mysterious and hostile land. The unconventional way Blake spells tiger (“Tyger”) also adds to the feeling that this is an exotic, mysterious creature that is to be feared.  

Although Blake sees the tiger as mysterious and evil creature this is not what I think the central message of this poem is. There are many questions in the poem that are rhetorical and do not have answers, many about god or the creator and how they could create something as awful as the tiger, “what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry”. Blake is not commenting on the evils of nature but rather he is commenting on what god could have created something that causes pain and suffering. Blake comments on this through an extended metaphor for God, or the creator, as a blacksmith working in a forge or furnace. This is an interesting metaphor because it has several connotations. This most obvious is that blacksmith make objects out of raw materials like god created the tiger, but another deeper meaning is that blacksmiths work in forges which create images of fire and flames which many of us would link to hell and the devil. Possibly through this means Blake is commenting on god and saying that maybe he is not as benevolent as we have been led to believe. Blake reinforces the blacksmith metaphor though the use of an iambic rhythm. This creates a stressed, unstressed pulse to the poem reminiscent of a black smith pounding a piece of metal. Blake uses other methods to devalue god such as when referring to him as “he” not using a capital letter, which goes against convention and makes him seem insignificant, “Did he who make the lamb make thee”. He also questions the creator who can be proud of having made the tiger “Did he smile his work to see”

To conclude, William Blake does comment on the evils of nature but more importantly he is questioning the creator of this nature and describes his yearning to know what sort of a god could create a creature as mysterious, exotic and horrific as the tige, and why. This I believe is best summed up by Blake’s final words “what immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry”.