How did the stars and heaven react when the tiger was created?

For
Blake, the stars symbolize the power of cold reason, which he greatly despised. Like many of his
contemporaries, Blake was deeply impressed by the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge.
But, at the same time, he strongly opposed what we would now call scientism, the idea that
everything in life can be explained by science. Blake believed that there was a whole world of
imagination for which science could provide no adequate account, and he explored that world in
considerable depth both in his poems and his numerous artworks.

Although the
tiger is an animal and therefore part of the natural world, there is something about it that
can't be captured by scientific analysis. Science can tell us so many things about tigers, as it
can with all other creatures upon this earth, including ourselves. But what it can't do is
convey the sheer awe and terror that the tiger inspires; only the aesthetic imagination can do
that. The sense of awe and fear which the speaker feels in the presence of the tiger defies
reason. In response to the tiger, reasonas symbolized by the starscan say nothing. All it can do
is suspend its hostility to the imagination ("When the stars threw down their spears")
and weep in the presence of this sublime, awesome creature ("And water'd heaven with their
tears").