 Hello and welcome to a summary of all you need to know about the poem The Tiger by William Blake. I'll explain the meaning related to this poem as it appears in part 3 of the Person at Exile International GCSE anthology. Now do bear in mind that in contrast to part 1 of the anthology which featured only nonfiction texts and part 2 which was a mix of fiction short stories and poems, part 3 of this anthology exclusively features poems alone. So in this video I'll highlight key language and literary devices used in the poem and you'll learn how to analyse it. So let's get started. So what I'll do initially is read the first two stanzas before I pause every so often to point out important literary techniques. So let's begin. Now the title of this poem is really really interesting. This is one of William Blake's most famous poems. So the title shows that this is about a tiger and the speaker contemplates and really looks at this creature as both beautiful powerful but also really fearsome. So the speaker in this poem contemplates the existence of this fearsome creature. Now in terms of the structure of this poem it's written in six quatrains. Remember quatrains is a stanza, a verse which has four lines. So it's written in six of those quatrains and it has a very specific rhyme scheme. So in stanzas 1 to 6 it has an A A B B rhyme scheme and it stanzas 2 to 5 it has an A A B B rhyme scheme. So as you can see here in this opening stanza it starts off with A A B C and then in stanzas 2 it's A A B B. Now when we look at the first line the repetition of tiger tiger emphasizes the beauty but also the dangerous complexity that can be found both in nature but also within this creature. Now contextually do bear in mind that William Blake who lived in the 1700s belonged to a particular category of poets. He was a romantic poet. Now bear in mind romantic does not mean romantic in the love sense. Romantic is a specific genre of poetry and poets in the 1700s who really saw nature as the highest manifestation of innocence, purity and the city was seen as corrupt. However romantic poets including William Blake also saw nature as having a real dangerous underlying element to it and this is perfectly captured in the tiger. Then in the first line he mentions tiger tiger burning bright. Now burning bright the alliteration here emphasizes the beauty of its appearance, its eyes and its fur and bear in mind that the alliteration here is of the plosive sound B. Then in the second line in the forest of the night. Now there's the mention of nature which is in line with William Blake's romantic writing and his romantic poetry. So of course as I mentioned in line two there's forests in line five there's a mention of skies in line six fire and line seven wings. Now this belongs to a semantic field of nature and as I mentioned contextually speaking William Blake is a romantic poet. Their focus is very much to do with nature and the beauty of nature but also the scary element of nature how nature whilst is quite beautiful cannot be taken for granted and it's also can be quite dangerous. Now that he mentions in the forest of the night. Pathetic fallacy is used night to reflect the speaker's fear and reverence of the tiger. He then asks what immortal hand or eye. Now he's asking here what kind of God makes something so beautiful yet so terrifying. Then he continues could frame that fearful symmetry and once more frame and fearful this is alliteration and it emphasizes the tiger's contradictory appearance. It's really really beautiful but also it's quite dangerous so it's quite sublime in its appearance. Now the mention of the tiger's symmetry. This shows that the tiger is sublime. It causes both feelings of respect but fear at the same time within the speaker who perceives it. Symmetry also shows that it seems perfect. It is symmetrical in appearance again the speaker is in massive awe of this tiger. Now in the second verse he questions what distant deeps or skies now here he's asking if God plucked fire from the sky or ocean to make the tiger. Then he continues burnt the fire of thine eyes. Now the mention of fire inside the tiger's eyes reveals the tiger as really ferocious. On what wings dare he aspire? Now the rhetorical question here shows how he's just contemplating how can such a creature be in existence. How can a creature coexist in something like nature where you can find very meek animals like lambs. Moreover the repetition of the words fire shows that the tiger is really really vicious so it really adds to this ferocity of this tiger. So let's continue. On 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 clasp dare its deadly terrors clasp? Now to carry on with the rhyme scheme as you can see here in stanza 3 it is a a b b stanza 4 a a b b. Now in the third stanza he recalls the shoulder what shoulder in the line 10 he then mentions what heart? Hand is mentioned in line 12 feet also is mentioned and again here the semantic field of body parts highlights the speaker's intrigue with the tiger's composition how it's built, how it's created, its shoulder, its heart, its hand, its feet. Moreover ampersands are used here and this is just adding to the speed of the speaker's questions. Now the reference to art what art shows that the speaker sees the tiger as an exquisite work of art. Moreover he talks about this twisting of the sinews of the heart the heart beating and bear in mind that sinews means muscles. Now he repeats thy which means your and this anaphoric reference shows that he's directly addressing the tiger repetitively. Moreover the reference to began to beat again plosive sounds here the alliteration here emphasizes the momentous event of the tiger starting life. Moreover the repetition of dread this shows that the speaker is wondering what's fearsome creator what kind of God who's so fearsome creator such a terrifying yet beautiful creature the creator must also be equally fearsome. Now in line 13 he refers to the hammer then the chain then in line 14 the furnace and 15 anvil. Now this is all language related to a blacksmith and so the narrator is showing here that he imagines a blacksmith crafting and creating this tiger. Furthermore the reference to dare it's deadly the alliteration here focuses on the creator of the tiger the God that created this tiger and the speaker is just wondering how possible it is for the creator to handle such creating such a vicious creature. Moreover the exclamatory sentence dare it's deadly terrorist class what this shows is the narrator's emphatic response to the tiger and all its contradictory aspects is beautiful yet it's deadly. So let's continue. 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 Tiger tiger burning bright in the forest of the night what immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry. Now in these final two stanzas stanzas five and six he questions all these other elements of the tiger before he refrains to the same language in the final stanza that we find in the first stanza. Now as you can see in stanza five the rhyme scheme is a a b b and in the final stanza it's a a b c. Now in stanza five he asks what stars threw down the spears in the following line on watered heaven with their tears. Now here he's using celestial language stars and heaven to show just how momentous the occasion is of creating such a powerful creature like the tiger. Now the stars threw down the spears so the stars are personified and personification here shows that the stars cried when they perceived the tiger's beauty once it was first created. Moreover the rhetorical question did he smile his work to see this rhetorical question shows the speaker wondering if God was proud of his creation once he created this tiger. Moreover the repetition of the third person pronoun he is a direct reference to God. Now the speaker mentions the lamb and this is a real sharp contrast the speaker can't comprehend how God can create such a meek and peaceful creature like the lamb as well as such a vicious tiger. Moreover in the final stanza tiger tiger burning bright in the forest of the night this repetition of line one and two and it's almost like a refrain the speaker is once more contemplating this. Then the reference to the immortal hand again this refers to what godly hand could create this kind of tiger and the final question dare frame that fearful symmetry. Now the final standard is repeated to reinforce just how impressed the narrator is at God's creation this work of art that's the tiger but also the speaker's wondering how God dared to create such a fearsome creature that can also be really dangerously destructive. So that's all. If you found this video useful do note that we have an in-depth vision course and it's a very extensive course that covers all the texts and poems in parts one, two and three of the entire Pearson Edexcel International GCSE anthology. So make sure you sign up for this course for explanations on all the texts as well as model answers but also make sure you check out our website which is www.firstreadtutors.com. There you can find plenty of English revision worksheets, model answers and online courses covering all the major English syllabuses including Edexcel, EQA and IGCSE. Thanks so much for watching.