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4 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Summary of the 'Lamb' first stanza |
The Lamb' is a lyric poem consisting of two 10-line stanzas. Each pair of lines rhyme, with several lines repeating throughout. Read the first stanza and notice the question Blake is posing.'Little Lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?Gave thee life, and bid thee feedBy the stream and o'er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing, wooly, bright;Gave thee such a tender voice,Making all the vales rejoice?Little Lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?'It should be very clear what question Blake is asking. In this first stanza, the speaker is talking directly to a lamb. He asks the animal if he knows who created him. Blake writes of the water and food supplied to the lamb, as well as the soft wool and gentle voice of the lamb. The entire first stanza centers on the question of the creator. Now read the second stanza to find the answer. |
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Second half summary |
'Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:He is called 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 called by his name.Little Lamb, God bless thee!Little Lamb, God bless thee!' This second stanza supplies the answer proposed in the first stanza. Blake describes the Lord Jesus Christ as the creator of the lamb. Since Jesus is often called the 'Lamb of God,' the symbolism of the animal chosen in the poem is very obvious. Blake also names the similarities between the lamb and the Lord: their name, meekness, and mildness. Blake ends his poem by blessing the lamb for his relation to the Lord. |
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Analysis |
This second stanza supplies the answer proposed in the first stanza. Blake describes the Lord Jesus Christ as the creator of the lamb. Since Jesus is often called the 'Lamb of God,' the symbolism of the animal chosen in the poem is very obvious. Blake also names the similarities between the lamb and the Lord: their name, meekness, and mildness. Blake ends his poem by blessing the lamb for his relation to the Lord. |
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Tyger-commentry |
The opening question enacts what will be the single dramatic gesture of the poem, and each subsequent stanza elaborates on this conception. Blake is building on the conventional idea that nature, like a work of art, must in some way contain a reflection of its creator. The tiger is strikingly beautiful yet also horrific in its capacity for violence. What kind of a God, then, could or would design such a terrifying beast as the tiger? In more general terms, what does the undeniable existence of evil and violence in the world tell us about the nature of God, and what does it mean to live in a world where a being can at once contain both beauty and horror? |
