What is the deeper meaning of "The Tyger"?

Question

William Blake's poem ["The Tyger"](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43687/the-tyger) is part of his collection [*Songs of Innocence and of Experience*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_and_of_Experience), an extraordinary set of poems which explores ideas such as spirituality, love, poverty, repression, all expressed and contrasted in beautiful language often involving children or animals. "The Tyger", however, doesn't have any immediately obvious (to me) deeper meaning. It seems to be mostly a banal and repetitive, albeit poetically written, description of a tiger and its creation. Usually in a Song of Experience one would expect to see either more pessimism and cynicism or a depiction of the cruelty of society. I think I'm not really grasping the *point* of this poem, but since it's Blake, I'm sure there is one hiding somewhere in the subtext. **What is the deeper meaning of "The Tyger"?**

Answer 1

Some have argued that the meaning of "The Tyger" has to do with the power of God. The reasoning is that if the Tyger is so powerful, what being ("immortal hand") could possibly have created it? The line "did he who made the Lamb make thee?" adds to this interpretation because it references a creator but also the Lamb, which is a metaphor for Christ in the Bible. There is also the contrast of the violence and brute strength of the Tyger and the gentleness of the Lamb which could be referencing the way God is described as both full of awesome power and full of goodness and kindness at the same time.

Answer 2

Think about it. Why is "The Tyger" in William Blake's "Songs of Experience." Is the tiger an innocuous creature? Or a scary, dangerous one? Try comparing a tiger with a lamb. : )