The Eye of the Tyger:

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?

This is my favorite poem. I first discovered William Blake during my freshman year of college in my British Lit class. My professor had a tiny bald spot on the very top of his head that got a little shiny when he stood in front of the overhead projector and bright blue eyes that sparkled like marbles. I fell in love, with Blake and with literature from the Romantic period. All I could imagine was sleeping in the soft grass in the Lake District in the English countryside.

I did well in this class. I did well in all of my English courses. I have always done well with the written word, with spinning phrases and turning pages. I often dreamt of working in the publishing world and yet after graduation from college the economy was so depressing, is so depressing, that making my dream a reality felt almost impossible.

So I took a job working with high school students. I took a job that pays me in peanuts but is so emotionally rewarding that money almost doesn't matter. Almost. As much as I enjoy helping these students compose a paragraph or chat with them about their lives I realize that I can't continue playing "adultette." I am 23. I have bills to pay and rent to pay and an entire eternity of actual adulthood to start living. So, as of today, the job hunt continues. The hunt for a career that will leave me satisfied and secure. I hope that my current writing internship will help me get my foot in the door, and if not my foot, maybe just my pinky toe.