The Lamb

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1789

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

The Consciousness of Innocence

Blake’s poem “The Lamb” comes from his poetry collection Songs of Innocence, which he contrasted with his follow-up collection titled Songs of Experience. He wrote the books with the purpose of illustrating “Two Contrary States of the Human Soul,” with the Songs of Innocence representing the soul in an “unfallen world,” a state of blissful peace in which humanity is unified with God and free of social and political corruption. “The Lamb,” with its child-speaker and pastoral setting, typifies the worldview of innocence that Blake contrasts with the fearful, corrupted consciousness of experience.

For Blake, the consciousness of innocence represents spiritual purity and freedom from the strictures of society. The lamb, acting as the poem’s symbol of innocence, wears “clothing of delight” (Line 5) and vocalizes with “such a tender voice” (Line 7). The creature thus embodies peace, happiness, and benevolence—the compassionate qualities that Blake likewise attributes to the divine Creator. The state of innocence is free from the demands of society, as the Creator “bid [the lamb] feed” (Line 3), giving it just one commandment. The lamb does not struggle with scarcity or competition—markers of humans’ degradation of the natural world—but rather lives in a state of serenity with its bountiful surroundings.

The poem not only defines the nature of innocence, but it portrays the innocence of nature. In the first stanza, the speaker illustrates the carefree life of the lamb “By the stream & o’er the mead” (Line 4), drawing attention to the bucolic setting of the lamb’s home and its plentiful environs. Blake’s vision of the unfallen world is one in which all creatures live in harmony—with each other and with the earth itself. The lamb demonstrates this vision of communion with nature through its voice that “Mak[es] all the vales rejoice” (Line 8). The lamb is therefore a catalyst of innocence, spreading joy and harmony to the natural world around it in the same way that Christ spread the message of Christianity.

Blake’s radical vision of innocence does not depict the world as it is but rather as it could be. He portrays the lamb as a gentle, meek creature in a traditional, pastoral setting, creating an image of peace and tranquility that inspires his audience to embrace the joyful message of Christ.

Childlike Wonder and Imagination

Blake celebrates the youthful imagination, believing that the mind of a child possesses a transformative power that adults—with their inhibitions, greed, and reliance upon corrupted institutions—lack. “The Lamb” has a child as its speaker, a choice that allows Blake, the poet, to embody the consciousness of a child, adopting an innocent worldview and therefore transforming reality through the lens of childlike wonder and imagination.

Blake takes on the persona of a gregarious child to portray youthfulness as a state of curiosity and generosity. The child-speaker of the poem repeats the question, “Little Lamb who made thee” (Line 1), opening up a conversation—albeit a one-sided conversation—with the lamb. The question is not an idle, childish one, but rather a deep philosophical question on the nature of the lamb’s existence. However, by raising this existential question through a child’s voice, Blake gives the question an air of whimsy and blitheness. The perspective of childhood thus transforms a seemingly perplexing mystery into a celebration of existence. Indeed, the child-speaker proceeds with eagerness to share an answer to the difficult question: “Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!” (Line 12). For Blake, the spirit of childhood overflows with unselfishness, as the speaker appears overjoyed to offer divine truth to the animal audience and—by extension—to the reader.

Furthermore, by revealing the Christlike essence of childhood, Blake invites his audience to adopt the mindset of childlike wonder. The divine Creator shares the child-speaker’s gentle qualities: “[God] is meek & he is mild, / He became a little child” (Lines 15-16). Blake renders the mystery of the Christian God’s incarnation into Christ-the-child in the simple, effortless language of a child. Thus, the child-speaker describes the transformation of God into man with one straightforward verb: “became” (Line 16). The worldview of a child allows the seemingly impossible to become as natural and simple as a lamb grazing in the grass.

Blake’s poem allows us to view the natural world through the eyes of a child, endowing us with the consciousness of innocence and imagination. Through the simplistic, natural rendering of deep philosophical questions and divine mysteries, Blake encourages readers to marvel at the mystery of creation with fresh eyes and recognize one’s own inner divine spirit.

Divine Love of the Creator

Like many of the English Romantic poets, Blake wrote about the natural world and found solace in its separation from the brutality of industrialized cities. However, unlike the Romantics who viewed nature as a soundboard for the expression of their own emotions, Blake saw the spiritual dimension of the natural world and sought in it communion with God. Nature, in “The Lamb,” is thus an expression of the divine love of the Creator.

Blake portrays the divine Creator as a benevolent figure who cares for all, assuming the role of provider with joy and humility. In the first stanza, the speaker enumerates the many gifts that God gave the lamb: He “Gave thee life,” “Gave thee clothing of delight,” and “Gave thee such a tender voice” (Lines 3, 5, 7). The repeated references to gifts depict the Creator as an altruistic God. This stands in contrast to the God depicted in Blake’s famous poem from Songs of Experience, “The Tyger,” which acts as a counterpart to “The Lamb.” In “The Tyger,” Blake lists the awful and awe-inspiring attributes of the tiger, imagining its “fearful symmetry” (Line 4), and ponders: “Did he smile his work to see? / Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (Lines 19-20). The God of “The Tyger” is a God of “dread” power who wreaks havoc on the world with his destructive creations. In contrast, the God of “The Lamb” is one with nature, assuming the name of its gentlest creatures: “For he calls himself a Lamb” (Line 14). Blake’s poem envisions a self-effacing, tenderhearted Creator who provides for all of his creation and fills it with his spirit.

Blake depicts the generosity and creativity of God in “The Lamb” to encourage his audience to view nature as an extension of God’s divinity and grace. For example, the speaker describes the lamb’s appearance by noting that the lamb wears “Softest clothing wooly bright” (Line 6). The reference to the lamb’s coat of wool as “clothing” highlights the craftsmanship of God, who made the wool and “[g]ave” it to the lamb. Blake uses this language denoting artisanal labor to demonstrate God’s creative power while enabling the audience to view the lamb’s natural coat in personified terms, making the natural world more relatable to readers.

In one of his published letters, Blake wrote on nature: “[S]ome scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself” (Popova, Maria. “William Blake’s Most Beautiful Letter: A Searing Defense of the Imagination and the Creative Spirit.” The Marginalian). Likewise, Blake’s poem invites the reader to view nature with a fresh perspective and, in doing so, to receive God’s gift of nature with humility and care.