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

   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: This poem is comparing Jesus Christ to a lamb just as scriptures have. In this poem, I think that the narrator is talking to the lamb. He is telling him that he lucky to be the animal likened to Christ. He is asked if he known the higher power that has created and looked after him. The narrator in poem is basically proclaiming to the animal that everyone is made in God’s image and they lamb is lucky to share his characteristics with Him.  

PARAPHRASE: Little lamb, d you know who made you? Who gave you life and fed you? Who provides your water and your food? Who makes your coat so white and your call you tender? Who made you little lamb?

I will tell you who made you. He is called a lamb and calls himself God. He is meek and mild and was born into a mad. I am mad and you are a lamb. We are all called by His name. God blesses you little lamb.

SWIFTT:

-SW: In order to keep meter, Blake used accents on words to create syllables. He also starts and ends the stanzas with separate little sayings. At first, he uses a question that he will answer in the ending of the first stanza. Then, he tells the lamb that he will answer something to beginning the second stanza. At the end of this stanza, he tells the lamb that God has blessed him. For Blake, the complete middle of the stanza with his separations is only one sentence.

-I: Blake uses many references to nature through the stream, meadow, and vales. He also describes the lamb with the soft, wooly, bright coat and the voice of the lamb as tender. All of this invokes the senses allowing the reader to see and feel and hear the image that the writer is portraying.

-F: There are no similes in the poem, yet the whole poem is about the comparison of Christ to a lamb.

-T: The tone is very joyful and religious due to the nature of the subject. Different key words keep an upbeat tone and voice throughout the poem like tender, softest, rejoice, and delight. The poem has a religious tone because of the dominance of God and Jesus Christ in the subject matter.

-T: The theme is about the comparison the scriptures have of Jesus Christ to the Lamb of God. The poem indicates that Christ is an important religious person and that the lamb should be honors to share this comparison. The lamb represents complete innocence just as Christ was and connects the sacrifice of the Son of Man to the sacrifices that were common among different religious groups of a lamb.

CONCLUSION: I think that my original reaction was very close to my conclusions from the analysis. The lamb represents the Son of God who was sacrificed to save the people of God. A lamb has been a symbol of innocence since the beginning of literature. The comparison the poem alludes to in the Bible strengthens the symbol of the lamb to Christ. Blake wanted to compare the sacrifice of Jesus to the sacrifices religions would use of the innocent lamb to please God.