Introduction to “The Lamb”
Written by William Blake, a very popular English poet, “The Lamb” is his a representative poem about his thoughts about God and Jesus. He was born on November 28, 1757, during the period when England was going through difficult times. Among seven children of James Blake, Blake was the fifth. He was much attached to his sixth young brother. His younger brother later succumbed to tuberculosis. This affected the young Blake so much that even living in London he used to go out to the countryside to pass his day. His father was a hosier with moderate means. He did not have the power to send his son to some public school, but he had enough to concentrate on his schooling that William Blake skipped. However, his acute mental faculties led him toward spiritualism which he used to describe as trees full of angels to his parents due to which he was sent to Pars’ Drawing school. Later he was sent to learn engraving from James Basire, a famous engraver at that time who made William Blake’s imagination more fertile. William Blake also witnessed the political upheavals and riots in London in 1780 that affected him very much. However, he paid more attention to his poetry than any other preoccupation and soon won acclaim from literary circles. His poem “The Lamb” not only presents his philosophy of the goodness of God’s creatures but also his belief that every creature demonstrates God’s love and care for human beings.
Structure and Theme of “The Lamb”
The beautiful poem “The Lamb” has two stanzas and total 20 lines, each stanza having ten lines. The first and the last two lines are repetitions, while the rest of the six lines are rhymed couplets. The poem presents the philosophy of the innocence of God’s creatures such as the lamb which is also the symbol of Jesus. The speaker, in the poem, is the poet himself who asks, inquiring the lamb, who made him, and asks some other accompanying questions, who gave him life, who fed him, who clothed him, and so on. Then the poet repeats the same two lines at the end of the first stanza, “Little Lamb who made thee / Dost thou know who made thee” (1-2). The first line is the question, while the second line is the inquiry of whether it is the same. In fact, this first stanza is a direct question to the lamb, whether he knows who has created him and if yes, then he must know that several blessings such as food, clothes, and his tender voice have also been showered by the same power that is God, who he says, “gave thee such a tender voice” (7). The poet has, in fact, used lamb as his spokesperson or mouthpiece through which he presents his philosophy of the goodness of God. The stanza has rhyming words such as feed, mead, delight, and bright and then voice and rejoice. They have not only added to the beauty of the poem but also to the poet’s philosophy that lamb is also beautiful.
Theme of Second Stanza of “The Lamb”
Though the next stanza is rhymed similarly to the first stanza, it presents the answer of the poet. It is clear that the lamb cannot speak. Therefore, the poet himself answers that everything that has been given to him is created by God. The first two and the last lines are repetitions, while the sixth line between them contains the answer that is that whether it is the poet as a child or the lamb, God is called by all these names as he loves all. In fact, the poet has symbolized Christ as the lamb as well as the child who has the same innocent name with the same characteristics as he states, “He is meek & he is mild / He became a little child” (16-17). It is clearly a reference to Christ. Then the poet, as he is a child, becomes equal to the lamb and calls both as “We are called by his name” (18). Then the poet repeats the line at the end with emphasis on “Lamb and God” as though the poet is presenting Jesus, the child, and God as one and the same thing.
“The Lamb” as a Song
The poem has become a little song for children due to its musical quality. Each stanza has ten lines where the first two lines are repeated at the start of the stanza and then at the end, making it a refrain. The refrain helps to add the quality of song to this poem whereas the sounds of soft vowels and consonances such as “l” and “s” further add to the melody of the poem. The first stanza is a question, which is descriptive and stresses upon the answer. However, the second stanza comprises abstract concepts of spirituality such as “I a child & thou a lamb / we are called by his name” (18-19) that does not specify whether this “he” is God or “Jesus” because, in case of God, it should have started with a capital letter. Therefore, this ambiguity lies in the spiritual philosophy of William Blake that he learned in the countryside of London during his childhood
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it is fair to state that “The Lamb” not only presents his spiritual philosophy of God in all things, but also his philosophy of a loving God. The question-answer format of the poem fits well in elaborating his concepts of God, the lamb, and the child who puts this question. The use of sounds, lines in repetition, consonance, and assonance has put a melodious quality in the poem to make it a song for children that they sing at school. The further analogy of God with a lamb and the child has added a multiplicity of meanings.
Works Cited
- Blake, William. “The Lamb.” Mays, J. Kelly. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 8th ed. Norton. New York. 2008. Print.
Relevant Questions about “The Lamb”: Blake and God
- How does William Blake’s portrayal of the lamb in “The Lamb” symbolize God’s benevolence and innocence, and what is the significance of this representation in the context of his larger body of work?
- In “The Lamb,” Blake refers to the lamb as “He is meek, and He is mild.” How does this depiction of God as gentle and meek contrast with other, more fearsome representations of God in literature, and what message might Blake be conveying through this contrast?
- The poem “The Lamb” is often seen as a counterpart to Blake’s poem “The Tyger,” where he explores a darker, more ferocious aspect of God. How does the juxtaposition of these two poems contribute to a more nuanced understanding of Blake’s complex view of divinity and the nature of God?