The Tiger

A parody of Blake's "The Tiger:" social commentary on the plight of the tiger.

Tiger, tiger old and lame
bred a prisoner, born a tame,
what arrogance imposed on thee
to cage thy wild proclivities.

In what distant jungle scenes
burns the fire of thy dreams?
To what heights do you aspire?
To slaughter those that play with fire?

And those that view, who share the shame,
wouldst thou those too hunt like game?
Fast their hearts begin to beat
as death comes swift on padded feet.

What the anger? What the pain?
What fuels the furnace of thy brain?
Are your hopes for freedom ripe,
Or do they rot beneath your stripes?

When He who made thee free to roam
watched on as we destroyed thy home,
Did He weep his work to see
confined to this captivity?

Tiger, Tiger old and lame,
bred a prisoner, born a tame,
what arrogance imposed on thee
to kill thy wild proclivities.

Reviews

[Jenn]

Fantastic. I love the inversion from Blake's poem, especially when considering the line, "What immortal hand or eye / dare frame thy fearful symmetry"? You present a quiet irony here that's really quite wonderful in ways I can't even express. I think, though that this poem goes beyond the plight of the tiger to comment on the social concept of the superiority of man in how he dares try to contain His creation. The imagery you use here, especially lines 15 and 16, is so tragically beautiful. Really moving.
And I take back the word inversion, having none better to replace it with. I think this theme underlies Blake's poem as well, because to him, even "a robin redbreast in a cage puts all heaven in a rage."

[Mike Carr]

Bravo, bravo Graybeard! What a poem, tight, provocative very well formed. I too have been inspired by Mr Blake on more than one occassion, which denotes his genius obviously. Can i read deeper into this poem? is it metaphoric for denial of freedom and dreams in all of creation? So many of my dreams "rot beneath my stripes" and yet at surface level the poem stands as perfect truth. Either way, what a poem.

[DANGER]

Tiger! King of da hearts!