Notes

This lyricism of the poem advances the idea of Blake that God's creative process is the work of an artist moving about as he works. In this poem, the metaphor of the creator as blacksmith with his fire "burning bright" in the tiger as it is forged in the furnace and with the anvil gives form to the dreaded animal who becomes part of the dichotomy of experience and innocence, represented in the fourth stanza with the image of the lamb.

Among the acts of the creator, there is personfication as the "stars threw down their spears,/And water'd heaven with their tears." Then, Blake asks,

Did He smile His work to see?

Did He who made the lamb make thee?

This question may be addressed to Blake's fellow Rationalists who "had hoped for a tame, gentle world guided by kindness and understanding," as Dr. Ed Friedlander states. Instead, they must face the "fearful symmetry" of the tiger, much that is evil and threatening. The poet's opposition of innocence and experience reflects his Doctrine of contraries, a philosophical view that dominated his poetry.

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