The Tyger 老虎

by William Blake 威廉·布萊克

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Although he only once journeyed farther than a day’s walk outside London during his lifetime, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of both the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic", for its large appearance in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions,as well as by such thinkers as Jacob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.

Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake’s work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th century scholar William Rossetti characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary," and as "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."

Historian Peter Marshall has classified Blake as one of the forerunners of modern anarchism, along with Blake’s contemporary William Godwin.

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 老虎!老虎!黑夜的森林中

In the forests of the night, 燃燒著的煌煌的火光，

What immortal hand or eye 是怎樣的神手或天眼

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 造出了你這樣的威武堂堂?

In what distant deeps or skies 你炯炯的兩眼中的火

Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 燃燒在多遠的天空或深淵?

On what wings dare he aspire? 他乘著怎樣的翅膀搏擊?

What the hand dare seize the fire? 用怎樣的手奪來火焰?

And what shoulder and what art 又是怎樣的膂力，怎樣的技巧，

Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 把你的心臟的筋肉捏成?

And, when thy heart began to beat, 當你的心臟開始搏動時，

What dread hand and what dread feet? 使用怎樣猛的手腕和腳脛?

What the hammer? what the chain? 是怎樣的槌?怎樣的鏈子?

In what furnace was thy brain? 在怎樣的熔爐中煉成你的腦筋?

What the anvil? what dread grasp 是怎樣的鐵砧?

Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 怎樣的鐵臂

When the stars threw down their spears, 群星投下了他們的投槍。

And watered heaven with their tears, 用它們的眼淚潤濕了穹蒼，

Did He smile His work to see? 他是否微笑著欣賞他的作品?

Did He who made the lamb make thee? 他創造了你，也創造了羔羊?

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 老虎!老虎!黑夜的森林中

In the forests of the night, 燃燒著的煌煌的火光，

What immortal hand or eye 是怎樣的神手或天眼

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 造出了你這樣的威武堂堂?