Solutions 3e Level 3 Literature Worksheet 5 2

Solutions Third Edition
5 Literature Worksheet
The Tyger – William Blake
1 BEFORE YOU READ Answer the questions. 5 Complete the summary of the poem with the words
1 Read about William Blake. How do we know that he had a below.
good imagination? fire happy heart lamb metal symbolic terrifying
2 Read the cultural context. Why was nature important for
the Romantic poets? The tiger has a 1 meaning in Blake’s poem,
3 Read the background to the poem on page 2. What did and Blake asks who could make such a 2 and
‘experience’ represent to Blake? beautiful animal. Blake wonders where the 3
that lights the tiger’s eyes has come from, and he reflects
William Blake 1757–1827
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
on what strength and imagination the creator had to give it

Important works: Songs of Innocence (1789), The Marriage such a strong 4 . Blake uses the image of the
of Heaven and Hell (1793), Songs of Experience (1794) creator beating the tiger into shape, like a blacksmith beats
William Blake received little formal education, but he had hot 5 into shape. He wonders if the creator was
6 with his work, and he asks if the same creator
a wonderful imagination. He said that angels and spirits
inspired his work and he claimed that his dead brother could also make the gentle, innocent 7 .
taught him to make engravings. Blake produced books
6 Read about Alliteration. Then answer the question below.
called ‘illuminated books’ which combined poetry and
beautiful illustrations.
ALLITERATION
Alliteration is when you repeat the same consonants at
The Romantic movement began with the publication of
CULTURAL CONTEXT
the start of words that are close together. This creates

Lyrical Ballads in 1798, written by the poets Wordsworth a musical effect in the text. People use alliteration in
and Coleridge. Blake and other early Romantic poets memorable company and character names like ‘PayPal’
loved nature and reacted against the new industrial and ‘Donald Duck’. Tongue twisters also use alliteration:
society in Britain. They used language similar to everyday She sells seashells on the seashore.
speech and they wanted freedom from authority and
a more natural way of living. In their work, they often
What examples of alliteration can you find in the poem?
contrast youth and age, country and city, and man and
What effect do they have?
nature. Imagination and the pure nature of children also
featured in their poems. 7 SPEAKING In pairs, ask and answer the questions.
1 What do you think is the best use of alliteration in the
2 05 Read and listen to the poem on page 2 and tick (✓)
poem? Why?
the subjects that are mentioned.
2 Who is the poet addressing when he asks the questions?
a The tiger’s body ■ 3 Why does Blake use the symbols of tools like the hammer,
b the tiger’s feelings ■ furnace and anvil in the poem?
c who created the tiger ■ 4 Is the poem mostly about the tiger or its creator? Why?
d where the tiger lives ■ 5 What do you like or dislike about the poem? Why?
6 Can you explain the poem in your own words?
3 Read the poem again and match words 1−7 to their
meanings in this poem (a−g). 8 WRITING In verse 5 of The Tyger, Blake refers to another
1 frame a a long weapon with a steel point poem which he wrote called The Lamb. Read The Lamb.
2 aspire b an oven for heating metal Then write a paragraph comparing the two poems. Think
3 sinews c shape about these things:
4 chain d hold firmly • the vocabulary used in the two poems
5 furnace e
muscles • how each poem is organised
6 grasp f want to do something important • who the poet is addressing in each poem
7 spear g a line of metal rings together • how both poems make you feel
4 Read the poem again and answer the questions.
1 Why does Blake use burning bright in the first line of the
poem? What does it describe?
2 Who is ‘the immortal hand or eye’ in the first verse?
3 How does Blake describe the tiger’s shape?
4 In what line of the third verse does the tiger come alive?
5 In verse 5, what does the poet ask about the creator?
6 How is the last verse different from the first? Why?
Solutions Third Edition Level 3 Literature Worksheet 5 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press 1
Solutions Third Edition
5 Literature Worksheet
BACKGROUND TO THE POEM
Blake’s first important work was a collection of poems called Songs of Innocence in 1789. He added
another collection of poems in 1794 called Songs of Experience. The poems are ‘songs’ because of
their musical rhythm, which comes from the repetition of lines and the regular stress patterns.
The Songs of Innocence are poems about childhood and an innocent view of life. Experience means
growing up and losing that innocence. The Tyger is one of the Songs of Experience, and it contrasts
with another poem from the Songs of Innocence called The Lamb.
The Tyger
Tyger Tyger, burning bright, What the hammer? what the chain,
In the forests of the night; In what furnace was thy brain?
What immortal hand or eye, 15 What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
5 In what distant deeps or skies. When the stars threw down their spears
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? And water’d heaven with their tears:
On what wings dare he aspire? Did he smile his work to see?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? 20 Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
And what shoulder, and what art, Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
10 Could twist the sinews of thy heart? In the forests of the night:
And when thy heart began to beat, What immortal hand or eye,
What dread hand? and what dread feet? Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
From William Blake, Selected Poetry, Oxford World’s Classics
Solutions Third Edition Level 3 Literature Worksheet 5 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press 2

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on what strength and imagination the creator had to give it

the start of words that are close together. This creates

From William Blake, Selected Poetry, Oxford World’s Classics

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