Doyle was born on 6 April 1953 in Scotland and graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in 1975. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in 2001. He joined the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987 as composer and musical director creating scores for highly successful productions of such plays as Hamlet, As You Like It, and Look Back in Anger. Doyle's film score debut occurred in 1989 when actor/director Kenneth Branagh commissioned Doyle to compose a score for the Renaissance Film's production of Henry V. The song "Non Nobis, Domine" from the film was subsequently awarded the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme. He has since scored nine Kenneth Branagh films including Dead Again (1991), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Hamlet (1996), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), As You Like It (2006), Sleuth (2007), and Thor (2011).
In October 1997, shortly after scoring Great Expectations, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Doyle was diagnosed with leukemia. He managed to complete his score for the animated fantasy Quest for Camelot (1998) in hospital whilst undergoing treatment. Doyle made a full recovery.
In 1998 Patrick Doyle’s Music from the Movies concert, sponsored by Leukaemia Research UK was staged at the Royal Albert Hall. It was directed by Kenneth Branagh and starred a host of international stars including Emma Thompson, Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Judi Dench, Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton, Richard E. Grant, Adrian Lester, and Robbie Coltrane.
He has composed a series of classical works outside of films that include "The Thistle and the Rose", commissioned in 1990 by Prince Charles in honor of the 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth I; the violin romance "Corarsik", written for Emma Thompson's birthday; the album "Impressions of America: A Suite for Orchestra"; and the symphonic tone poem "Tam O Shanter", commissioned by the Scottish Schools Orchestra Trust.
Doyle has recently completed the scores for Marvel Studios Thor (2011) and the 20th Century Fox film Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011). He is currently working on the upcoming Pixar film Brave (2012), directed by Mark Andrews, after which he will be working on the Sovereign Films film Effie directed by Richard Laxton.
Tyger Tyger
Patrick Doyle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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?
The poem from which this song draws inspiration is "The Tyger" by the famous English poet William Blake. The lines "Tyger! Tyger! burning bright / In the forests of the night" are the song's opening lines, and they convey a sense of wonder and awe for the majestic creature that the singer describes. The next two lines - "What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" - suggest that the tiger is not only beautiful but also frightening and mysterious, and that it seems almost supernatural in its power.
The second stanza continues the questioning tone of the first, asking "In what distant deeps or skies / Burnt the fire of thine eyes?" and "On what wings dare he aspire?" The answers to these questions are not given, which adds to the sense of mystery and wonder surrounding the tiger. The final line, "What the hand dare sieze the fire?" could be interpreted as a call to action, asking what brave soul would dare to tame or capture such a creature.
Overall, the song's lyrics evoke a sense of admiration mixed with fear and reverence for the natural world and its mysteries. The theme of the untameable and unconquerable is a recurring motif in William Blake's works, and it is no different in "Tyger Tyger".
Line by Line Meaning
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
Oh Tiger, ferocious and bold with your fiery aura
In the forests of the night,
Roaming free under the veil of darkness
What immortal hand or eye
Which all-powerful deity or being, fathom the ability
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
To create such a perfectly terrifying and awe-inspiring creature as yourself?
In what distant deeps or skies
In what faraway abysses or heavens
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
Was ignited the passion and power in your blazing eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
With such bold confidence, what wings could lift him to strive for such greatness?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
What daring individual would dare to claim such an untamed and fiery spirit?
Contributed by Benjamin E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.