9And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
13What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
17When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
21Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
10 thy] thine Wilk.11 And… heart] When thy heart, Malk., Cunn., DGR, WMR (and version).12 What… feet?] What dread hand forged thy dread feet? Malk.; What dread hand formed thy dread feet? Cunn., DGR, WMR (2nd version); What dread hand and what dread feet WMR, EY, WBY; What dread hand framed thy dread feet? Swinb. See also editor's note to this poem.13, 14 What… brain] What the hammer! what the chain! Formed thy strength and forged thy brain? Cunn., R1; What the hammer, what the chain. Knit thy strength and forged thy brain? DGR, WMR (2nd version).16 Dare] Dared Malk., Cunn., DGR, WMR (2nd version).its] thy Cunn., DGR, WMR (and version). 17 spears] spheres Cunn., R'.18 water'd] watered Malk., Wilk., WMR, EY, WBY; sprinkled Cunn.their] shining Cunn.21-24 This stanza is omitted by Cunn., DGR and WMR (2nd version).
NOTE ON 'THE TYGER.'
The original draft of 'The Tyger,' written upon two opposite pages (pp. 109, 108 reversed) of the MS. Book, enables us to follow every step in the composition of the poem. On the left page is found the first rough draft of stanzas 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. In stanza 3 the manuscript version throws light upon a verse which has proved a crux to many of Blake's readers and commentators. It will be seen that Blake at first intended the line—
'What dread hand and what dread feet'
merely as the beginning of a sentence running on into the next stanza. Unable to complete this stanza to his satisfaction he cancelled it altogether, leaving the preceding line as it stood. This, of course, did not escape his
