诗人都喜欢写猛兽，在猛兽的身上会寄托的诗人的各种情感和联想。通常来说，猛兽是力量和美的象征，甚至还是宇宙秩序的象征。

现代诗歌中，不知道谁最早写到老虎。徐志摩在他的《猛虎集》里有一首诗《猛虎》，让人读来印象深刻。这首诗原名为《The Tiger By William Blake》，原本是英国大诗人威廉姆-布莱克的名作《老虎》。

THE TIGER（英文原文）

by: William Blake (1757-1827)

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 seize 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 water'd 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?

这首诗是1794年发表的，正值法国进行资产阶级革命时期，诗里所洋溢的对老虎和老虎的手和眼的赞美，也就是对法国革命势力和革命人民的赞美。这首诗含蓄有力，意蕴深远，是诗人的力作。