Poem 14, "The Tiger Asks Blake for a Bedtime Story" Summary

This poem has the exact rhythm and rhyme of the famed "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright" by William Blake. This is the rather rare trochaic rhythmic form, with two-syllable scansion with emphasis on the first syllable. Much more poetry in English occurs in iambic form with the emphasis on the second syllable.

This poem is a confessional. The tiger has been doing a little stealing, nothing much, just some food items. The tiger calls upon Blake to get his roar back and restore his good health. The tiger thinks that his petty pilfering has caused an elemental ill for himself, which may very well be true in the spiritual and mystical world where Blake lives. In stanza one, the tiger talks to William, writing late in...