“Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat.

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp.

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When 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?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Analysis:

William Blake’s “The Tyger” raises existential questions about the unresolved concepts of nature and God. This questioning highlights the duality of life and the sanctity of its creations. 

The diction used by the poet affirms that there is immense artistry in the act of curating life. Words like “frame”, “symmetry”, and “anvil” all evoke the imagery of an artist conspiring on how he shall perfect his creation, stepping back and observing his work. In this case, the artist is God. God, a general term to describe a supreme being, is the maker of all life on Earth. As an observer and result of this divine curation, the poet asks, “Did he smile his work to see?”, referencing God as “he”. The poet sees the beauty in the ferocious tiger but wonders what God himself thinks. This divinity the poet sees in the creation of life is very reflective of the romantic period. The period emphasized the importance of nature feeling we had strayed from the transcendent force that encompasses all that is and will be. Before the era of enlightenment, before the romantic period, conversing with God as if he were a human, that level of imaginative thought, would have been absurd. This factor makes the poem a product of its time. 

The rhyme scheme further reinforces the sanctity of God as a creator. The pattern follows an ABAB format with every line rhyming with the next, thus emphasizing the perfection of God. Additionally, the rhyme scheme represents a balance within the concepts of good and evil, balancing each other in quantity, rhyming in their codependency. The real question is why would God create good and evil? To revere God’s artistry, one has to acknowledge that he intentionally created both spiritual entities. The author uses animals to convey the principle of this question asking explicitly, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”. God deliberately created the ferocious predator tiger yet also created the docile prey lamb. God’s, “immortal hand or eye”, contrived these symmetrical qualities of predator and prey reflecting how he contrived good and evil. Without both the predator and the prey, ecosystems innately collapse once again reflecting the codependency of good and evil; if there is a definition of good, there has to be an inverse definition of evil. However, if God is perfect, wouldn’t he only make good? Would he not want only the best representatives of his contrivance? This poem expresses the age-old question of God’s righteousness vs. the imperfect humanity of his subjects. 

Fire and nature are commonly used motifs within the poem. One line asserts, “What the hand, dare seize the fire?”. This could be an allusion to Prometheus. Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humans against Zeus’ wishes. Zeus punishes Prometheus for eternity in response. In this allusion, is Zeus being selfish or is Prometheus being disobedient? The conclusion depends on an individual’s moral gradient. Once again, the concept of morality is being explored and questioned.  In this line, the poet may conclude that morality is subjective, yet we still suffer from its lack of objectivity. The imagery of “forests of the night” and “distant deeps or skies” evoke a feeling of mystery; what lurks in the forest and beyond the sky? This props nature to be intrinsically elusive when asked to answer, in turn, questioning is only natural. This may be why humans concluded God is perfect because they will never get an answer. 

In conclusion, The Tyger by William Blake ponders inquiries as old as time and nature itself. As long as humans live to observe the natural world, the questions will outnumber the responses (hence the amount of question marks). 

Neil Hilborn’s poem “OCD” is a blunt yet heavy compilation of racing thoughts conveying the weight of having a mental health disorder. 

The poem’s structure helps enhance the mood of the poem. There are no stanzas the poem itself is a stanza. Only three lines have punctuation. Most notably the line, “But when I saw her,” has a comma at the end. This line marks a shift in the poet’s thoughts. His mental obsession shifts from “Did I wash my hands” and  “Did I lock the door” to relentless thoughts about a mysterious “her”. Enjambment makes the poet’s stream of consciousness feel never-ending and continuous to the point of annoyance, a common symptom of OCD, leaving even the reader anxious and exhausted. 

Repetition within the poem also helps to establish the theme of mental illness whilst diving deeper into its impacts on the poet’s interpersonal relationships. The poet’s mind keeps repeating “Did I wash my hands” and “Did I lock the door”. He always ends these lines by confirming that he completed these actions, yet the next line continues the pelting of questions. The shift from trivial repetitive thoughts to thoughts of his lover seems nice, almost like a guilty pleasure. He begins to think of her “hairpin” and the “curve of her lips”. The most repeated line, however, is “the eyelash on her cheek”. The thoughts start out pleasant, sensual,  warranted, and normal. Noticing even the smallest details about your lover can show that you pay attention and care, but compared to a hairpin or his lover’s lips, the eyelash seems small. As the poet recalls his lover in detail, his account goes from thoughts to obsession. Her essence relieves him from his normal train of thought but in the end, she only reinforces his fixated train of thought. The constant reciting of the line replaces any ounce of romance and admiration with disdain and the irritation of harassment. 

Often, in relationships, we believe that our counterpart is changing us for the better, molding us. People feed into the daydream of being completely transformed by their partner, effectively healing all their wounds. Nevertheless, the poet is met with the harsh reality that he still struggles with the plagues of mental illness. Salvation can’t be found within one person, no matter how much we want it to be. Having a mental illness can be isolating and a burden on relationships, especially if you want to be fixed. The use of the word “But “ in line 6 makes his lover out to be an exception, the savior. The dynamic is built on the burden of rescue and reverence which is bound to collapse. 

The first line reads “Even in bed I’m thinking”. The imagery of someone lying in bed staring off, casually wandering through the landscape of their mind is natural, comforting, and relaxed. This poem is nothing of the sort. It is chaotic, stressful, and woven with the weariness of fixation. The juxtaposition of the message of the poem versus the initial imagery shows what the poet wants to be; homely. Not cursed, not other, not a savior, just settled. On the outside, with no further analysis, he has achieved that. On the inside, transcribed through the poem, turmoil is his eternal companion. The bedroom is the most intimate space where people sleep and dream of their fondest dreams, where they exist without prying eyes or thoughts, and where confessions of love reside. The poet’s mental illness, a constant observer and disruption, is sacrilegious to the sanctity of the bedroom. Even in the space where the poet should feel the most safe, he feels exposed. Mental illness, in the poet’s experience, is a power-hungry deity that requires constant sacrifice, reminding him of what he is not. 

The poem, accurately named, uses very few lines to convey the reality of living with neurodivergence. It is vulnerable. Plain and blatant, yet layered, mirroring the poet’s mental disposition. It is truly moving.

“This is what it’s like to be in love with two people at the same time. This is what it’s like to get drunk in a mansion. You will never

live here; don’t get so comfortable. This is what it’s like to live in a house full of antiques. This is what it’s like to kiss someone until you are

no longer sorry you kissed them. These two people you love, they are two temps doing the same job, separeted by only a cubicle wall. They are both trying

to fill a hole that wasn’t empty in the first place. You keep calling yourself empty and you are starting to believe it. This is what it’s like to smash

your friend’s television. This is what it’s like to set fire to the clothes you are wearing. This is what it’s like to turn a suicide note into a airplane. This

is what it’s like to turn a life full of exclamation marks into a blank page. This is the day you finally reach into the cookie jar and find it full of seeds.

This is what it’s like to buy the wrong kind of flowers. This is what it’s like to read your lover’s mail and find they are doing nothing wrong. Have you ever

set a field on fire and called it a birthday candle? Have your ever punished a dog because you trained it wrong? This is what it’s like to build a wall in your living room.

This is what it’s like to use bricks when you should have used sand. The one you loved first, you only kiss her through a hole in the wall. You describe the way your body would feel

against her hands as though you are an ancient city she will visit one day. Every night you say it is the last night. This is what it’s like to sell your shoes

in the desert. This is what it’s like to try to fall asleep in a life raft. This is what it’s like to say goodnight and mean goodbye.”

Analysis:

“You Can Look” is a testimony of sorts; A glimpse into the mind and actions of someone struggling with mental illness. A testimony obscured by figurative language yet intertwined with a sense of vulnerability that guides the reader to interpretation. 

The repetition of the poem is vital to understanding the poem itself. The poet repeats, “This is what it is like”. The poet is trying to give another person insight into his existence (feelings, thoughts, actions). However, the phrase is usually followed by a symbolic metaphor. Metaphors are characteristically cryptic. If one cannot decipher the meaning, the metaphor holds no weight and is lost in translation. If the poet is having a conversation based on gaining a sense of understanding, why would the communicative descriptors be niche? There is a barrier of communication between the poet and the unknown interlocutor. 

The interlocutor (readers, friend of the poet, partner of the poet, etc.) doesn’t know what it is like. They are a casual in the poet’s warped reality. A lack of lived experience halts comprehension. The poet is trying to strengthen his connection to those around him but time and time again is met with emotional ostracization, a cycle.  Phrases such as “separated by only a cubicle wall”,  “this is what it’s like to build a wall in your living room”, and “house full of antiques”, convey the intensity of the poet’s emotional seclusion. The poet constantly uses the word “wrong”. The poet is aware of his flawed actions and thoughts, but can’t seem to change them. After all, he lives in a “house full of antiques”. The poet is harassed and consumed by the redundant nature of his self-destructive behaviors and unfulfilling attempts at emotional intimacy. These antiquated circumstances are all-consuming and erode any feelings of sanctuary and reprieve, instead replaced by unease and obsession. His life feels as if he is trying to “fall asleep on a life raft”; ignoring the dire situation and trying to find comfort. He is grateful to be alive, constantly surviving, but there is an undercurrent of danger threatening to rapture him at any moment. These feelings are innate to the poet as they “live” with him. 

 The poem’s structure is also key to understanding the poem. The poem continuously stops in the middle of its sentence to create a new stanza. The poem’s composition takes on an abruptness that could allude to multiple things. It could allude to the poet’s impulsive thoughts and behaviors. It could symbolize the miscommunication between himself and the interlocutor. It could allude to the incompletion the poet feels within himself or his relationships. The idea of building connection and starting over might allude to the pattern of instability the poet feels within his life. No matter the interpretation, the poet feels disconnected and interrupted by the looming presence of his inefficiency. 

Ultimately, the poet seems to overindulge in his suffering. Hyperfixated on his shortcomings. He is focused on survival rather than living. Introspection and self-awareness can be a gift, but these gifts can also be overwhelming and isolating if used to fuel one’s perceived inferiority. The poet himself is a “suicide note into an airplane.” He is trying to be functional when his framework is self-deprecating and an actualization of mental anguish. In the end, he says “goodnight” and means “goodbye”. He runs away before he receives an answer. He bared his soul and left. As much as the poet yearns to be known, he fears full transparency. It is a cycle; he vomits his feelings, becomes scared of the reaction, and cowards by severing the connection. This perpetuates his loneliness and consolidates his feelings of otherness. 

“You can look” is a grant of permission, but it is not a guarantee. It does not ensure that the author will stay. There is no guarantee that the interlocutor will have the opportunity again. There is no guarantee of mutual understanding.

“Neil Hilborn is a best-selling author and, with over 150 million views to his credit, he is the most-watched poet ever. He has performed in 41 states and 8 countries, and in 2019 alone he drove coast to coast five times while on tour. His favorite touring moments are: crying while meeting a wombat in Australia; spending two weeks in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival; meeting Dionne Warwick at the Smithsonian; and putting 12,000 miles on a minivan in two months with his fellow road goblin Mark. His favorite sandwiches come from: Primanti Bros in Pittsburgh, Black’s BBQ in Austin, one specific Publix in Tampa, and a torta truck he found while stranded in Pasco, Washington. One time on stage he accidentally punched the microphone and broke his wedding ring, and thanks to years of therapy he did not interpret this as a sign. His preferred stage entrance music is “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen, during which he walks very slowly. In addition to touring and writing he runs workshops on craft, performance, and how to apologize for ignoring texts. He and his wife live on a hobby farm outside Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where they adopt too many animals.”