"Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?..."
See in text (Text of the Poem)
Subtle changes to the punctuation and diction of the poem’s first stanza prevent this sixth and final stanza from being a perfect replication. The removal of the first line’s comma positions “burning bright” as a necessary characteristic of the Tyger—as opposed to something it happens to be doing in the moment. The semicolon that ends the first stanza’s second line is here changed to a colon, which makes the speaker’s address of the Tyger more pointed and less theoretical. Most striking, the speaker’s question has changed: in the first stanza he seems to be asking who would have the ability to create the Tyger, whereas now he asks who would “dare” to do so.
Caitlin, Owl Eyes Staff
