Some questions that a person will encounter will by easy to answer. Other questions will take more time, and some may never be answered at all. One such question concerns the creation of evil. From whence did evil come from? Is evil something that exists simply because it is "evil-? Or, is possible to believe that evil came from good? William Blake attempts to discover the very moment when evil was created in his poem "The Tyger-. .
In the first stanza, Blake begins by stating "Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night- (1-2). Right away, the reader is introduced and forced to focus on Blake's choice subject - the Tyger. Why they are forced to focus on this particular subject is due to both the repetition of the words as well as the emphasis placed on them - note the exclamation points. Blake continues to paint his Tyger in shimmering fire, thanks to his choice usage of "burning- - fire - and "bright- - obviously signifying a high degree of light. Even at this early stage of the poem, Blake is making it abundantly clear that he wishes the Tyger to take on a menacing and, fundamentally, evil fazade. The reader can ascertain this idea from the very mention of the word "burning-, which would automatically bring visions of Hell's fiery pits into the reader's mind. To help enforce the dread and anxiety the reader should feel towards the Tyger, Blake chooses to situate his subject "in the forests of the night- (2). Perhaps the use of "forests- as a setting is not very important by itself - unless the reader could possibly feel dread at being left alone in a forest with a burning Tyger. However, engaging the reader to place himself or herself into a wood in the pitch of night, with this particular creature, creates the oppressing and fear-inducing tone for the rest of the piece. .
Blake concludes his first stanza by asking "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?- (3-4).
