William Blake's "The Lamb" is part of his manuscript for Songs of Innocence (Erdman, 1988, p. 72). As such, there is a light, jubilant tone rendered throughout, which pervades the poem's theme, subject, narrator, and setting. Within this poem, an unidentified narrator directly addresses a lamb. The principle motif that this work revolves about is the time honored conceit of a lamb representing Jesus Christ and the mercy and kindness of God himself. Therefore, this poem is principally about the goodness and divinity of all creatures as evinced by their innate connection towards God, and Blake utilizes various aspects of the poem's setting, mood, title, narrator, and literary devices to reinforce this principle theme. Structurally, Blake divides the poem into a pair of stanzas, both of which use a copious amount of anaphora. The primary stanza is about the literal lamb whom the narrator is addressing; the second stanza is about the figurative lamb which the literal one represents, Jesus Christ. The repetition of the word "thee" occurs repeatedly throughout the first stanza, appears in all but two of the stanzas' 10 lines, and underscores the fact that the author is emphasizing the titular lamb as the principle point of comparison in this commonly found conceit. The following quotation readily demonstrates this fact. "Dost thou know who made thee/Gave thee life & bid thee feed" (Blake, 1789). In this passage, the author uses the word thee three times in a span of seven words, to demonstrate the fact that the poem is about a lamb. The...
This latter fact is well demonstrated in the second stanza by the fact that the author repeats the word "he" as much as he does "thee" in the first stanza. "He," of course, refers to the Jesus, the metaphorical lamb of God. Therefore, the lamb is both literally and figuratively divine in this poem.
William Blake's "The Lamb" In the poem "The Lamb," William Blake distinguishes his unique style through the incorporation of religious symbolism, creative lines, and simplistic patterns. "The Lamb" was published as part of a series of poems in 1789 titled the Songs of Innocence; actually, he wrote "The Lamb" and the other works as part of a series of lyrics. The entire work represents an enlightened state in Blake's life, and
He saw that there could be no innocence if one could not acquire experience and knowledge later. This is also true of the kind of art Blake executed. Engravings are drawings made up of lines. It is not possible to remove the lines and have any art left, because that is what his style art does: it divides blank space. Without the blank space, there can be no lines.
1) Technically, the work consists of several poetic devices: Alliteration: Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright -- Frame Thy Fearful Symmetry. Apostrophe: Use of apostrophe directing speaker's prose to the tiger. Metaphor: The tiger has "eyes of fire" Anaphora: Repetition of "What" at the beginning of sentences or clauses (What dread hand, what the chain, etc.) Allusion: The immortal hand or eye (God or Satan, Creation or Destruction; Distant deeps or skies; the underworld, heaven. The overall theme of
" Because he believed that that creation followed a cosmic catastrophe and a fall of spiritual beings into matter, Blake discusses Gnosticism, a multi-faceted religious movement that has run parallel to mainstream Christianity (Friedlander, 1999). Unlike most other Gnosticizers, Blake sees the world as a wonderful place, but one that would ultimately give way to a restored universe. For Blake, the purpose of creation is as a place for personal growth,
William Blake is usually classified with the Romantic movement in English literature -- which coalesced in the revolutionary climate of the late eighteenth century, and roughly spanned the period from 1780 to 1830. The Romantic movement spanned a time of enormous social change in Britain. Not only was this a period of time that witnessed revolutions in America (1776) and France (1789), Britain itself would have to subdue a rebellion
1. First stanza: "Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?" IV. Body paragraph III: Contrast with Tyger A. Ironically, the lion is "commonly known as the protector of the Lamb," (Damon & Eaves 242). B. The lion is "often associated with the Tyger, for they are both forms of wrath: the lion is spiritual wrath, inspired by pity…while the Tyger's blind wrath is purely emotional," (all Damon &
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