This is for my independent study unit.

1. Independen
t Study Unit:
Compare and
Contrast Essay
By: Andrea Bennici

2. The Tyger
By: William Blake

3. William Blake
• Writer of
the poem:
The Tyger
• 28
November
1757 – 12
August
1827
• an English
painter,
poet and
printmaker
• Born in
London to
James and
Catherine
Blake
• He had
visions of
God and
angels
since the
age of 4

4. Poem
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
sieze 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 watered
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?

5. Summary
 The poem opens with the speaker asking the tiger who was able
to create it.
 Each stanza refers back to this line of questioning: Who created
it? How were they able to continue the job after it’s heart began
to beat? Could it be the same Creator of the lamb?
 The speaker compares the creator’s ability to create life, to a
blacksmith’s ability to create objects.
 His line of questioning seems innocent, but his how's become
whys.
 The start of the poem and the ending begin with the same verse.

6. Analysis
The beginning of the poem is what makes the largest of impacts. It sets up
the rest of the poem. We must understand that William Blake is not only
talking about the tiger. As the poem reaches an end the tiger becomes a
symbol. That a creator has the ability to create things of beauty and of
destruction. Blake questions all this through his poem: What kind of creator
would create such a thing? What does that tell us about our world?
By putting the lamb within his poem, Blake reminds the audience that the
tiger and the lamb are created by the same God, and yet they are so
different. In addition, it invites a contrast between experience and innocence.
As one may notice, all the questions in the poem are left unanswered. This
leaves the audience in a questioning mentality themselves. It arises all sorts
of questions on the unanswerable things that we must always acknowledge.
Evil, life, death, tigers.

7. Essay Blueprint

8. Introduction
Lead: If one were to concentrate on two completely opposite things
like heaven or hell, there will always be a trace of similarity,
sometimes bigger then expected.
Literature: Within the novel Life of Pi, and within the poem The
Tyger, readers will effortlessly find a tremendous amount of
similarities. However to pinpoint their differences is slightly a harder
task.
Subtopics: Through God and through pain, the poem and novel go
hand in hand, and yet both influential characters are perceived
differently.
Thesis: Martel’s Life of Pi and Blake’s The Tyger two literary pieces
that contain similar elements. However, aside all its similarities,
Richard Parker and poem’s tiger stand to be opposites.

9. Connection to God
Topic Sentence: Both pieces of literature are
influenced through the power of a greater being.

10. Point: Pi contains a deep and powerful understanding about God, leading
him to be faithful throughout even the hardest of struggles.
Proof: “I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn’t made
itself heard in my heart . . . Yes so long as God is with me, I will not die.
Amen.” (Y.Martel, 186)
Explain: After the shipwreck, many would have given up and let go,
however Pi’s faith lead him to be strong due to his deep belief in the Lord.
Point: The poem The Tyger consists of multiple questions based upon the
subject of creation, all directed to the Creator himself.
Proof: “What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
(Blake, The Tyger)
Explain: Both beginning and ending of this poem commence with these
two lines, the word “immortal” proves the poem to be relating to that of a
greater being, while the words “dare frame” emphasize the subject of
creation.
God

11. The Tiger
Topic Sentence: Both literary pieces are heavily
influenced by the presence of a tiger. However, both
tigers are portrayed through a different set of eyes.

12. The Tiger
Point: Within the Life of Pi, Pi has always been drawn to Richard Parker
and is able to face him when his life is in danger.
Proof: “Richard Parker has stayed with me. I've never forgotten him. Dare
I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are
nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the
strangeness of the human heart. (Y.Martel,14)
Explain: This quotation proves that Pi, aside all he has been through, still
considers Richard Parker to be a dear member of his life – even though he
is a tiger.
Point: Unlike the novel, the poem pursues tigers as a dark, evil creations
produced by a greater being.
Proof: “what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? (Blake, The Tyger)
Explain: Within the poem, the speaker is constantly questioning a god as
to how and as to why he could create such a horror. Proving the poem to
perceive the tiger itself as evil.

13. Suffering
Topic Sentence: Both novel and poem contain
indication of evildoing and suffering.

14. Suffering
Point: The protagonist within the novel Life of Pi is obligated to survive on a
lifeboat in the middle of the pacific ocean for over two-hundred days with a tiger.
Proof: "And what of my extended family – birds, beasts, and reptiles? They too
have drowned. Every single thing I value in life has been destroyed. And I am
allowed no explanation? I am to suffer hell without any account from heaven? In
that case, what is the purpose of reason, Richard Parker?" (Y.Martel, 98)
Explain: This quotation, spoken by Pi, to the tiger, proves the degree of Pi’s
suffering, and the extent of his grievance.
Point: The Tyger, aside its small size, contains multiple traces of suffering, pain,
and fault through the simplicity of its words.
Proof: “What the hand dare sieze the fire?... What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?... Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?...” (Blake, The
Tyger)
Explain: The speaker of the poem is questioning the Creator as to how he was
able to create something so evil, so dreadful. This is proven through the use of
words such as fearful, dread, or fire.

15. Conclusion
Restate: In conclusion, Yann Martel’s novel and William
Blakes’s poem contain such similar elements of pain and
suffering that one may think they wrote it together. However,
that thought is broken when the realization sets in on how
different the tigers truly are.
Conclude: Ironically, every religion contains similarities, a
greater being, and/or rituals. Every person has been through
pain and happiness, but no matter the struggles people go
through, no one comes out being the same as someone else.
General: The world has seen it all, it has seen hardships and
struggles, wars and peace, death and birth, and each time and
every time again, they will all be comparable and they will be
completely different.

16. Works Cited
"William Blake." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets,
n.d. Web. 18 July 2014.