The Lamb by William Blake

We have already read The Tyger and its analysis so now it is time to read of The Lamb by William Blake and try to understand what he meant.

The language is so childish, and smooth in the poem. He asks direct and simple questions. Blake is not raising the bar in terms of language but in terms of the questions that the poem asks. This poem is also about creation but with a simple diction and simple symbolism. In the first stanza, he is asking primary questions but these are rhetorical questions because in the second stanza, we see that he already knows the answers. So the answer to the question of 1st stanza is Christ. Christ the lamb who created the lamb. Jesus Christ is called the lamb of god. Lamb is a sacrificial animal and Christ sacrificed himself for humanity, based on this belief he is assumed as the representation of innocence. So the line “for he calls himself a lamb” means the creator is also called a lamb and he created you. It is a reference to the Trinity, to the Jesus. We have descriptions of the creator in the lines; “he is meek, & he is mild; /he became a little child. /i a child, & thou a lamb, /we are called by his name.” He is praising the lamb, it is a beautiful creature, by doing so he is also praising the god. Lamb is an innocent creature, Christ is also innocent so this poem is from the Songs of Innocence. Blake brought all these ideas here with a question-and-answer structure. When the speaker addresses an absent person, object, or animal, it is called an apostrophe; this poem is an example of it. The speaker is a child, it is obvious from the diction, syntax, and repeating words. This child is also a representative of innocence. The words are soft and warm for example lamb, mild, meek; all of the positive words. 

“Blake employs the method of catechism within the didactic conversation between the lamb and the child who “can be seen as an ordinarily passive victim of the catechistic method who here attempts to reassert some measure of power through playfully, even paradically catechizing a figure still more naive and helpless than himself” -Richardson 863 = catechism means set of questions or answers that are used for teaching people about the beliefs of the Christian religion. The critic says, there is a dialogue between the lamb and the child, and that dialogue is marked by catechism. According to Alan Richardson, there were dialectical arguments in the Renaissance. It means discussing with others to find the truth and making logical arguments. He says dialectical arguments are about intellectual flexibility; you are not following a single path of truth, you are discussing, and being flexible. But in the 18th and 19th centuries, after the Renaissance, he says catechism was used in education. There were no dialectical arguments in the 18th and 19th centuries, just catechism. Catechism is not about reasoning, it is about mechanical answers, and it can only give way to obedience. There is no questioning, that is why it is called passive literacy. Dialectical means learning actively. That is the main difference between them. So, who is the instructor and who is the student in this poem? Who is asking the question and who is “answering” the question? = There is a hidden dialogue in the poem. The child is asking the question, the teacher is the child, and questions are being asked to the lamb but the lamb does not give an answer directly. So the lamb is unresponsive or the docile student. The child gives religious instruction to the lamb but we do not have a verbal answer from the lamb, the child is answering his own question. The lamb is a symbol of Jesus but he is not the authoritative one, because the child is asking the questions. The child becomes the ultimate authority in the poem. Why does William Blake do this? Why does the child speaker use the method of catechism and the lamb becomes silent? = He is doing what he learned here. Richardson says the child is the victim of catechism. He is a child, he is being instructed by schools or parents. He is trying to use what he learned over the creature who is more helpless than himself. He spends time asking questions and we feel that in the past his parents and teachers did the same thing to him. Maybe he is not happy with this system so “he is trying to control someone to subvert the power of authority.” He is being controlled and he is trying to subvert the power. That is why the lamb symbolizes the Jesus Christ. He does not allow Lamb to answer the questions, he answers his own questions, and he shows that he is one in control. In the poem, he always asks “Little lamb who made thee”, and later he says “I’ll tell you who made thee.” He asks and answers. He is praising the lamb, Jesus in the second stanza but still, there is some kind of authority. He says the creator is Christ not god in the 2nd stanza. This is an important point. Why does he refer to the son but not the father? = He is not happy with the traditional chain of hierarchy because he is also a child. He is trying to free himself from the discourse. He does not want to be a passive receiver of this strict hierarchy. That is why he refers to Jesus. On the surface, he is praising Jesus but Richardson says beneath that he is trying to assume power for himself. With the language of this poem, he gets out of the tradition.