Reading and responding to 'The Tyger' by William Blake
I can describe the imagery and themes in the poem and give some evidence to justify my ideas.
Reading and responding to 'The Tyger' by William Blake
I can describe the imagery and themes in the poem and give some evidence to justify my ideas.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- ‘The Tyger’ is a poem written by William Blake in 1794 as part of the collection titled ‘Songs of Experience’.
- Imagery may be interpreted differently depending on the reader or listener's experiences.
- The poem uses symbolism; the use of symbols that represent ideas beyond their literal meaning.
- The poem references two animals: the lamb and the tiger; these can symbolise a range of emotions and themes.
- A take-away idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.
Keywords
Theme - a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a text
Symbolism - the use of objects, actions or ideas to represent deeper meanings or concepts
Imagery - the use of language to create a mental picture or sensory experience for the reader or listener
Atmosphere - the mood created in a section or whole of a text
Common misconception
Pupils may find some examples of imagery and language challenging to understand.
It may be useful to provide a visual sheet accompanying the poem, exploring some of the more complex terms (anvil, furnace).
To help you plan your year 5 english lesson on: Reading and responding to 'The Tyger' by William Blake, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 5 english lesson on: Reading and responding to 'The Tyger' by William Blake, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 english lessons from the Poetry inspired by animals unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
Exit quiz
6 Questions
a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a text
the use of objects, actions or ideas to represent deeper meanings
the use of language to create a mental picture or sensory experience
the tiger is depicted in its natural habitat
the tiger's presence evokes feelings of fear
questions are used in the poem about the origin of the tiger