The Lamb - Synopsis and commentary

Synopsis of The lamb

The speaker, a child, asks a series of rhetorical questions of a lamb. They emphasise the soft, tender nature of the lamb and the gentleness of its way of life. The first stanza ends with the central rhetorical question ‘Little Lamb, who made thee?

In the second stanza, the speaker answers the question posed, referring to a specific ‘He' (without offering a name). The accumulated references to the lamb's creator point to ‘He' as being Jesus Christ. According to the New Testament, Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth as a human child, and is also referred to as a lamb. The speaker says that children and lambs have something in common because they are both ‘called by the name' of Jesus i.e. bearing his likeness. The child ends by asking God to bless the lamb.

Blake's The Lamb does three key things:

It develops the symbolism of shepherd, sheep and lambs encountered in The Shepherd, which forms a central image in the whole sequence of Songs of Innocence
It begins to explore the nature of the world and of its maker
It introduces the theme of the vulnerability of innocence, and of the incomplete vision of the innocent speaker.

Watch The Lamb

Accompanying teaching resources

Song of Innocence - The Lamb by William Blake

Commentary

Childlike simplicity

This is a deceptively simple poem. The use of a child narrator and of the simple device of a child talking to a lamb produces a first impression of naivety and freshness. It is generally recognised that little children have an affinity with baby, soft, animals and will speak to them as though to another human. This effect is enhanced by the simple language and the repetition. In the second stanza, the effect continues through the child's play with the lamb. S/he wants to play riddles with it. The reader expects a simple child's verse.

A selective view of creation

The second stanza, however, is not quite so simple. The child does not present the full story. S/he sees only one aspect of creation and the creator:

Conventional Christianity sees creation as the work of the Trinity and tends to think particularly of God the Father in this respect
However, the child only presents Jesus as the creator, the aspect of God in human form
Thus the speaker represents only a God who is with - and like - humankind. There is no God ‘beyond', acting and creating in awe and majesty
The Jesus portrayed in the poem is meek, mild, gentle. He is reflected in his creations, child and lamb
It seems as though these qualities are what Blake wants his readers to identify in creation.

A veiled warning

Blake knows that his readers would have a fuller picture of Jesus than is represented by the child:

Jesus' forbearance was in the face of human hostility, injustice and aggression. His title the ‘Lamb of God' signified sacrifice and death
To be a lamb or a child is to be vulnerable – lambs are eaten!

So there are forces at play in creation beyond what the child can see. And if they are in creation, might they also not be in the creator? This would follow the child's logic.

So the poem isn't simply an affirmation of the innocence of the child:

It demonstrates the limitations of innocence when it excludes experience
It exposes what is tender and gentle as vulnerable and open to danger
Meanwhile, it also denies the positive potential of other human characteristics. The New Testament picture of Jesus also shows his strength and justifiable anger when he turns corrupt money-changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem (John 2:13-17).

Although the first impression is that the poem is focussed on the nature of the creator this is misleading. The true focus is on the limitations of the child speaker who represents innocence divorced from experience. In this, it is a counterpart to The Tyger, one of the Songs of Experience

Investigating the meaning of The Lamb

The child does not answer his own question directly
- What effect does this create in you as a reader?
Do you think this poem is really about a lamb or is it about the maker of the lamb?

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. ⁴And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. ⁵His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. ⁶Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it. ⁹When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. ¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. ¹²After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. ¹³The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade. ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. ¹⁸So the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? ¹⁹Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. ²⁰The Jews then said, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? ²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. ²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

¹And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: ²And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. ³And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. ⁴Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. ⁵His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. ⁶And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. ⁷Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. ⁹When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, ¹⁰And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. ¹¹This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. ¹²After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. ¹³And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: ¹⁵And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; ¹⁶And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. ¹⁷And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. ¹⁸Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? ¹⁹Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. ²⁰Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? ²¹But he spake of the temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. ²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. ²⁴But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, ²⁵And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

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