I was saying the 1st few lines of this to Riley the other day and she seemed interested, but I could not recall the rest, so I told her I’d read it to her when we got home. Of course my Mom was in the car and after hearing me do this one and The Raven, she thought I should be teaching her more kid friendly poems!
THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)
By William Blake
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 sieze 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 watered 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?
As far as kid friendly poems go, the nursery rhymes we all grew up with aren’t as kid friendly as some might think once we learn the meaning behind them!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4933345
I’m in the process of reading the original Grimm Fairy tales, where many of our popular stories come from. Talk about dark! No way I can read many of these to Riley for a few more years…