Thoughts on "The Tyger" and its "Illumination"

[DoryZinkand]

It is interesting that the expression of tiger changes so much, from version to version, isn't it?

Perhaps the imperfection of the "symmetry" lines is another contrast between the lower skills of the creator of the poem and the higher creative skills of the maker of the (real) tiger. Both picture and poem are hardly fierce.

Also, did you notice that in all versions of the illumination posted here the first "y" in the word "symmetry" has a peaked tail? Is it the fierce teeth of the tiger or yet another representation of the imperfection of the scribe/poet/artist? Whatever it is, it seems quite purposeful.

[IntegralThought]

Some thoughts which might help ... but I expect the assignment is now well behind you! ...

Place the Tyger poem in the context of Blake's other poems and his philosophy.

Consider the many dualities in his work ...
Heaven and Hell (marriage of)
Innocence and experience
lamb and tyger
...

Blake accepted the terminology of standard Christian morality but reversed its values ...

Of note his philosophy was based on the founding image of "the human form devine" finding God in Universal man rather than starting with the traditional external and "threatening" view.

Blake like Christ turned the tables on the conventional view.

How can the image of the Lamb and the Tyger be married so to speak ... the same creator ... maybe the traditional view of the Tyger should be moderated with a little smile ... if he had an illustation of the Lamb would that be shown a little threatening?

It would not surprise if "The Tyger" illustration was not just poor work but a deliberate attempt to show something different to the conventional ... and at deeper level in relation to his philosophy.

Perhaps a little poetic touch for the the more discerning.

[mustangdave]

Great intepretations of the poem but I tend to think that neither he or his wife (who also drew some of these) were very good at drawing and people are overanalyzing the importance of this picture.

[stlukesguild]

I tend to think that neither he or his wife (who also drew some of these) were very good at drawing...

As an artist and Blake fanatic I'm afraid I'll need to reserve the right to disagree with this assertion. Blake, as an artist, has long been underrated... or grouped under the perjoratives "Naive Artist", "Outsider Artist", or some such nonsense, just as his poetry was long dismissed as "naive", "untutored", "eccentric", etc... William Blake was very much a trained professional artist at a time when this meant that the ability to draw the figure well was a given neccessity. Blake's family was too poor to have him apprenticed to a painter, and so he was apprenticed to a printmaker. In an interesting anecdote, Blake was originally apprenticed to one of the most fashionable printmakers of the time, but he requested his father to send him elsewhere as the man "had the hanging look about him". Years later, this man would indeed be hung for the crime of forging money.

Blake's apprentice years were spent with an engraver of the traditional linear engraving manner rooted in the works of Dürer, Raimondi, etc... His master was employed primarily in illustrating documentations of historical buildings, and Blake spent a good deal of time studying the works of the medieval sculptors. Just as his poetry was influenced by many unusual predecessors (for the time), so were his concepts of visual art impacted by sources uncommon for the era. His taste was for strongly linear work: Raphael and Michelangelo and Durer... and these known only through engraved reproductions... as well as the engravings of Flaxman and the paintings of Fuseli... at a time when the English painters were primarilly interested in the far more painterly works of Rubens, Rembrandt and Titian. His work was also impacted by the expressive distortions of the medieval artists and possibly even some known works by Asian artists. While few would question whether the expressive distortions of Picasso, El Greco, etc... were intentional, the notion of Blake as a "naive eccentric" often leads to a misinterpretation of his work. One need merely look at certain early drawings such as the quick sketch of the artist's wife, Catherine (in the collection of the Tate, but unfortunately not shown on-line, although it can be found in "The Drawings of William Blake" published by Dover books).

Blake's finished works are powerfully expressive; his concern is not for anatomical accuracy, but rather he freely distorts and contorts the bodies in a manner allowing them to create strong, simple organic abstract designs.









Blake's figures have a marvelously sensuous and organic quality that reminds me of nothing so much as the Romanesque sculpture at Vezalay. They make similar use of the organic repetitive line and the manner in which the figures undulate and twist in all sorts of manner in order to fit into the space alotted. This analogy is not surprising, considering the similar spiritual concerns of Blake and the medieval artists as well as Blake's own familiarity with medieval sculpture.

Having said this much, I do agree that one might be making far too much of such a small detail in Blake's illumination of "The Tyger". One needs to consider that the scale of this illustration (surely not much larger than the images posted here), as well as his method, a self invented relief engraving that allowed him to print with a limited color range (later "colorized" even further with watercolor washes applied by the artist and/or his wife), did not allow for a great control of fine details. On the other hand... a smiling tiger may simply convey Blake's refusal to follow the common dichotomies of "good/bad". After all, the same God who made the Lamb made this Tyger, and Blake embraces the need for both.

ps... How on earth do I post images and have them show here... and not as hyper-links?

[Thorwench]

Thanks Stlukesguild for this very interesting biographical background. I didn't know anything about Blake's life before. As an art historian the first thing I noticed when I saw the illustrated version of the Songs years ago was that the entire format is not naive at all but is a format "invented" by artists in the late 19th and early 20th century (art noveau, compare as a famous English example Oscar Wilde/Aubrey Beardsley). The "new" format was to bring the arts together in a complementary way and there suddenly appeared many journals where literary work and "illustrations" stood side by side. The "illustration" however was not perceived as merely illustrating the written piece but was supposed to stand on its own. As I said, painting/drawing did not serve writing and vice versa, but they were thought to complement each other, depicting the same subject in their particular ways as an attempt at something we call now the holistic approach. Blake as an artist is so amazing because he brilliantly (and not primitively) pre-dates a much later development.
The tiger in the plate doesn't seem asymetrical at all but is shown in a solid and heavy pose. His entire stance speeks of strength and fearsome confidence. In my version of the plate the mouth is slightly open, as if panting or lip curling (something cats do to take up smells better, I think). If there is on other plates a smiling expression I may point out that the mouth-nose part of a cat, even of a big one, has anyway a line that moves up. This is very difficult to depict, especially if you do hand-coloured etchings. It may therefore, seen in profile, easily been mistaken for a smile. A well-liked German writer (Franz Fühmann) once said when visiting an educational institution: "I didn't realise how much you can interpret into me." ("Ich wußte gar nicht, wie viel man in mich hinein interpretieren kann.")

[unicorn1776]

Responses #13,14 & 15 are excellent, thoughtful and highly responsive to the question(s) presented. Bravo...each gave me much to think about. As a painter, I offer in addition: artists generally do not work and/or present pictures rendered alta prima. Drafts, sketches and studies precede the finished creation. Who can know...but the black & white suggests initial drafting....the changing expressions of Tyger demonstrate an artist's changes of mind while searching and stretching towards crystallization of an initial idea into a final blended result of skill and thought.

[kemisolaa]

Pls My Question Is This "how Would You Describe The Poets's Attitude Towards The Tyger? Is He Fearfully,admiring And Respectful.pls I Need The Reply Urgently.

Thanks

[ASHLY]

thanks because you help me tooooooooooooooo much

[AtaLost]

awesome. This is helping me alot. Though I was wondering if ya could maybe talk about how this poem, "the Tyger" and the poem "the Lamb" tied together. As ya mentioned earlier, blake seemed to be asking God if he did in fact make the lamb and tyger. Something so simple but confusing at the same time.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

[ennison]

There's something childish and primitive about the illustration. Perhaps Blake just wasn't very good at drawing exotic wild animals. Where would he have seen one after all?