The fifth stanza addresses the violence of the French Revolution. “When the stars threw down their spears / And water’d heaven with their tears: / Did he smile his work to see?” addresses, again, the one who gave the tyger its revolutionary spirit (17-19). Since The Tyger was written near the end of the French Revolution, we can assume that Blake had already heard of the bloody revolts and senseless killing involved in the revolution. The fifth stanza is like saying “When the enemy was powerless and defeated, was the revolution truly successful?” In terms of the French Revolution, no. Democracy was not really installed and the people did not have more freedom or control over their lives. The Tyger was published before Napoleon became the new ruler of France, but it was most likely obvious to those in Blake’s time that the Revolution was out of hand.

The key to a successful revolution is given: symmetry. Symmetry here does not refer to the lines on a tiger, or the make-up of its face. Symmetry is order, which is what is often lost in a revolution. Blake suggests that a successful revolution maintains order over violence and should have a definite plan for what to do once freedom is achieved.

Blake does not want the average person, the “lamb,” to be afraid of the revolutionary. Although the tyger is a “fearful,” “dread” animal, those descriptions seem more reserved for the tyger’s enemies, the corrupt kings. The independent tyger is not drawn with a fearsome scowl, instead it is drawn quite plainly, so as not to invoke fear.

As for which Blake holds with more respect, the lamb or the tyger, the answer to that is found in another of his Experience poems, The Fly. In The Fly, Blake suggests in the fourth stanza that thought is life and lack of thought is death. The narrator goes on to say that since he does nothing but dance and drink and sing, his existence may be as thoughtless as a fly’s. The poem ends with the narrator saying that he is happy whether alive or dead. This poem is Blake’s way of saying that those who simply live without thinking are not truly experiencing all of life. It is as if he says if one cannot mentally stand alone, one should not stand at all. It is this logic that concludes the tyger is a far more respectable creature in Blake’s mind.

The tyger is the grand counterpart to the lamb. In the tyger, Blakes sees the future of humanity handled with passion. The Tyger gives readers a veiled but clear view of the thoughts on revolution within Blake’s time, yet the opinions and advice in The Tyger can be applied for a successful revolution in any age.

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