"The Lamb", by William Blake, 1/12/12

“The Lamb”, by William Blake

  Little lamb, who made thee?

   Does thou know who made thee,

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o’er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice?

   Little lamb, who made thee?

   Does thou know who made thee?

   Little lamb, I’ll tell thee;

   Little lamb, I’ll tell thee:

He is callèd by thy name,

For He calls Himself a Lamb.

He is meek, and He is mild,

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are callèd by His name.

   Little lamb, God bless thee!

   Little lamb, God bless thee!

REACTION

There is a heavily religious tone to this poem. The narrator appears to actually be talking to a lamb. There are seemingly very iconic religious symbols being used in the poem. The narrator also seems to admire the little lamb.

PARAPHRASE

Little lamb, who made you? Do you know who made you, gave you life, and allowed you to eat by the stream and over the meadow; gave you a coat of wool; gave you a tender voice, making all the valleys happy? Little lamb, who made you? Do you know who made you?

Little lamb, I’ll tell you; He is called by your name, for He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek and mild, and became a child. I’m a child, and you’re a lamb; we are called by His name. God bless you little lamb.

SWIFTT:

Syntax/Word Choice- In this poem, Blake intentionally indents his initial questions to the lamb, and other parts of the poem where he is directly speaking to the lamb so that those parts stand out from the rest. When Blake refers to God in the poem he capitalizes the first letter of the name God is called by to make it distinguishable. This is also intentionally done to allude back to the Bible where God is referred to as He. Blake uses a variety of complex and simple sentence structures in order to both pose the questions asked and to answer them. The first stanza is primarily comprised of the questions (often rhetorical) to the lamb. The second stanza is the reply filled with statements and exclamations.

Imagery- This poem uses the image of a lamb all throughout the poem. Blake is very descriptive when he describes the coat of the lamb by saying, “Softest clothing, woolly, bright”. Blake also invokes the senses when he says the lamb has such a “tender voice”.

Figurative Language-There are no similes in this poem, and there are very few actual uses of figurative language, but the entire poem is about comparing the lamb to Christ.

Tone- The tone of the poem is happy, inquisitive, and religious. Blake is constantly asks questions throughout the first stanza, such as “Little lamb, who made thee?” The lamb itself in the poem is a symbol of Christ and throughout the second stanza Blake does a fantastic job of showing this.

Theme- The major theme of this poem is the comparison of the little lamb to Christ. It is apparent from the simple use of the religious symbol of the lamb in the poem and the fact that Blake states that the lamb and He share the same name. Another lesser theme is a reflectance on the human state. Blake is posing questions in the beginning that are meant to make the read reflect on them and pose the same questions internally.

CONCLUSION

I feel that my initial reaction was not far off from reality. There is no denying the heavily religious tone of this poem. The narrator does seem to actually be talking to a lamb. Blake uses several iconic religious symbols in the poem. He also uses the characters in the poem to compare to these religious symbols.