“The Lamb” has an essentially pastoral setting and a protective surrounding of nature in which the little boy and the lamb have a dialogue. The first section
of the poem consists of a series of questions asked to the lamb by the little child, and in the following section the child gives answers to these questions. The answers are as simple as the questions, but they all are indicative of a profound faith that may rest only in a simple and carefreeheart which is still unadulterated and free from the complexities of the care- worn world. The poem begins with the child’s question about the maker or creator of the lamb, whether the lamb at all knows who made a beautiful creature like it. He then goes on to give the details of the features with which its creator has endowed it. The creator, for example, has given it life and also the softest of all clothing in the form of a bright and delightful woolly cover. The lamb has also been gifted with a very tender and sweet voice. When the lamb bleats, the entire valley seems to rejoice. And above all, the creator has made the
stream and the wide meadow for the lamb to graze and feed itself. All these indicate the generosity of the creator and his love for the lamb. The child is curious to know if the lamb at all is aware of its generous creator. The first section ends with a repetition of the first two lines, and the repetition may imply the speaker’s earnest address, affection and intimacy to
the lamb. The second section, quite meaningfully, starts with a repetition of the line ‘Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee’. The little child gives instant answer to the very questions he has asked in the first part without any delay on his part and without any anxiety of waiting on the part of the listener, that is the lamb. The tender affection is quite unmistakable in the tone of the
child speaker. The world of ‘Innocence’, in fact, is always a world of tender love, pure affection and unconditional sympathy. However, what the child says in terms of answer is a matter of simple but deep faith. God is the creator of the lamb and it is blessed by the
Creator. God is the supreme father, and all earthly creatures are the children of God. The idea is expressed in a very simple way by associating the lamb with Christ, the son of God. Jesus “calls himself a Lamb”. Jesus was ‘meek’ and ‘mild’. He took birth on the earth as a little child. The lamb is also, like Jesus, ‘meek’ and ‘mild’ - in fact, the meekest of all
creatures. The child with his simple and profound faith associates himself and the lamb with Jesus: “I a child, & thou a lamb, / We are called by his name”. All are blessed by the supreme father, that is God. The poem thus ends with a confidence and trust, which are the
hallmarks of the world of ‘Innocence’, with a repetition of the line “Little Lamb, God bless thee”.Another important point to note here is that the questions asked in the poem have their simple answers, unlike the questions in “The Tyger” of the ‘Experience’ book. The questions in “The Tyger” are more complex and they remain unanswered. The poem “The Lamb” is one of the representative poems of Blake’s “Innocence” book. The lamb itself is the universal symbol of innocence. The world of ‘Innocence’ is a protective world. It is also a world of care, love, communication and unmixed delight. In his pictorial illustration of the poem Blake has depicted a protective natural world with tall trees entwined by the creepers. The doves, the symbol of peace, are placed on the cottage roof. A
stream of clear water, the very symbol of life, flows playfully in the forefront. Innocence is also closely associated with light and joy. Words like ‘bright’ ‘delight’ and ‘rejoice’ in the first section of the poem are suggestive of these features of ‘Innocence’. The natural setting of the poem, its expression of simple faith and unmixed joy lend the poem its essential pastoral character. However, Blake has perfectly mixed the Christian spirit of charity, love and compassion into the pastoral texture of the poem.In the second
section of the poem both the child and the lamb are associated with Jesus, the son of God. God is the Father and the supreme Creator of the world. He blesses us all and He will bless the lamb. The simple but very profound message of Christianity is thus communicated through the little child’s communication to the lamb. Jesus was meek and mild. Jesus was
the very embodiment of love and charity. The lamb in Blake’s imagination identifies with Jesus and forms a Trinity of Child, Lamb and Father (God). Blake called his poems ‘songs’ and, therefore, the element of musicality in the poems included in Songs of Innocence and of Experience can hardly be missed. He might have been influenced by Charles Wesley’s hymn book Hymns for Children which was published in 1763, especially the hymn beginning with “Gentle Jesus, Meek and mild”. Blake has used in the poem very simple rhyme scheme. The poem is equally divided into two stanzas of ten lines each. Repetitions are there in the opening and closing lines of each stanza. Such
repetitions sound like the refrains of a song. The words are mostly simple and monosyllabic, for example, ‘made’, ‘gave’, ‘feed’, ‘mead’, ‘life’, ‘bless’ etc. Lines are also evenly composed. The first two and last two lines of each stanza contain six syllables, while the
lines in between contain seven syllables each.
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