William Blake
His Poems, Quotes and Paintings

TIGER! TIGER!
By William Blake
Tiger, Tiger, 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 water'd 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 forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?


In The Sick Rose, the Rose is love, and the invisible worm represents conventional morality and the possessive jealousy, which it encourages.

The Sick Rose
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.


I like this next poem, because it is so different from all the other poems, which always praise the Rose, this one is critical of it.

The Lilly
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble Sheep a threatning horn;
While the Lilly white shall in Love delight,
Nor a thorn, nor a threat, stain her beauty bright.


Eternity
He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternitys sun rise.


This following verse provides us with hopelessness and lose-lose situation of life.

"If you trap the moment before its ripe,
The tears of repentance youll certainly wipe;
But if once you let the moment go
You can never wipe off the tears of woe."


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