Write a note on critical appreciation of the poem "The Lamb" by William Blake

 

Q.04. Write a note on critical appreciation of the poem "The Lamb" by William Blake

 

Ans:    The Lamb is William Blake's simple poem, written in a lucid style, conveying his philosophy about the world of children, its bliss, and perfection. It is one of the poems belonging to his "Songs of Innocence". The lamb is an innocent creature of God and it also symbolizes the child Christ. The world of it is largely a world of simplicity, purity, happiness, and security.

 

The poem opens with the description of the little creature and this description is given by the child who is the speaker here. The child wants to know who has created it.

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

 

The child puts this question because of the wonderful qualities which this creature possesses. The lamb is blessed with life and the capacity to feed by the small river and over the grassy land. It is endowed with shining and soft wool which serves as its clothing. It has a tender voice which fills the valley with joy and bliss. Thus we have here a true portrait of a lamb.

 

Gave thee life & bid thee feed.

By the stream & o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice!

In the second stanza, there is an identification of the lamb, Christ and the child. Christ has another name; He is called lamb because Christ is meek and mild like a lamb. He shared gentleness, meekness, innocence, and simplicity with a child. Both the child and the lamb have the same name as Christ has. They all share the same qualities- meekness, mildness and innocence.

 

The child in this poem is portrayed as speaking to the lamb, as if the lamb were another child and could respond to what is being said.

He became a little child,

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are called by His name.

 

Child shows his deep joy in the company of the lamb who is just like him, meek and mild, simple and innocent. The poem conveys the very spirit of childhood - the purity, the innocence, the tenderness of childhood and the affection that a child feels for little creatures.

 

"The Lamb" is a pastoral poem.  It deals with the life of the lamb that moves and grazes by the stream and the pasture. Its tender voice fills the void of the valleys with joy. The pastoral note in this poem is another symbol of joy and innocence. The child-like qualities of this poem lie particularly in the little speaker's unselfconscious and serious address to the lamb as to another little child. The lamb is symbolic of the innocence and the humility of man, the tiger represents the violent and terrifying forces within man. The two represent the duality of human nature.

 

The poem consists of twenty lines, divided into two stanzas. The structure of each stanza consists of a theme in the first two lines, exposition in the next six lines, and the conclusion in the remaining two lines. It is a two-line rhymed poem, and this two-line rhyme contributes to the musical or lyrical effect of the poem. Technically it is a triumph of form. The line "He is meek, and He is mild" is alliterative because the repetition of the letter 'm' at the beginning of the words 'meek' and 'mild' forms the alliteration.

 

To conclude, Blake gives us his vision of the world as it appears to the child. Both 'child' and 'lamb' serve as symbols for Christ. The lamb, pure and pretty, simple and innocent, seems the work of a kindly, comprehensible Creator. To the mind, in the state of innocence, the lamb appears to be a fit symbol of life. In this poem, the lamb and the child are identified with Christ who represents purity and innocence as they do, and Blake glorifies the lamb.