The third in our exclusive series of actor Matt Ray Brown reading William Blake's poems is The Tyger - perhaps the most famous of Blake's poems, alongside the 'hymn' version of Jerusalem. As with the other sessions in this series, filmed by Finding Blake's Jonnie Howard, Matt was performing The Tyger in Blake's flat at South Molton Street in London, adding an extra magic to these films.The Tyger Tyger Tyger, 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, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & 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? Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Finding Blake team member Mark Goldthorpe says of this poem: “Many of us have strong childhood memories of The Tyger being read to us at primary school or at home. Something of the power of the animal and of Blake’s depiction — through words such as ‘fearful’, ‘fire’ and ‘dread’ — impresses itself into our minds and persists in our imaginations. Just as master storyteller William Blake intended, of course. I wonder if he sensed that this poem was one that would certainly outlast him? The imagery of the tyger, a majestic large cat “burning bright” in the dark recesses of our psyches, connects us with something primeval. In Blake’s own experience, that primeval is the link between creator and creature, the mystery of each revealing itself (but only partially) to human consciousness, and the ‘balance of contraries’ between the light and dark aspects of creation: lamb and tyger, innocence and experience. For many of us now, perhaps, the primeval is that state of imagination which can rediscover itself in all-too-human imagery grasping at a more-than-human world. For the child, it is reality. And for the tyger?…”
Notes
Matt Ray Brown reads eight Blake poems for Finding Blake and appeared in the original film for our Crowdfunder video. You can find all Finding Blake videos, as they are posted, on the Finding Blake Films at a Glance page in our Blakean Archive section. You can explore Matt’s work as an actor, including his showreel at Mandy.com, ‘the world’s largest creative community of actors, film and TV crew, theatre professionals, child actors, voiceover artists, dancers, singers, musicians, models and extras.’
Artist Linda Richardson recently took The Tyger to share with pupils at Linton Heights School in Cambridgeshire. See her post, Tyger School, for further confirmation of the enduring power of William Blake’s great poem.