The Lamb
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William Blakes poem, “The Lamb” is broken into two stanzas. Both stanzas have ten lines each. In the first part, each line rhymes with the next. There are a total of five rhyming parts in the first stanza. In the second stanza “name” and “Lamb” do not rhyme, but the other lines have the rhyming endings. The first two and the last two lines of each stanza are either the same or close to being the same. This is almost like a chorus to a song.
In the first stanza “The Lamb”, opens with “Little Lamb, who made thee?” A child is most likely the speaker and asks the lamb how it came to be. The speaker wants to know how the lamb chooses where it feeds. Next, the speaker asks where the lamb got its wool “clothing” and its “tender voice” from. In the next stanza, the speaker tries to answer his own question. The speaker tells us that the lamb was made by someone who is called “a Lamb”. The creator is a lot like a lamb. He is seen as gentle and pure, just like the speaker, a child, and a lamb.
The lamb most likely symbolizes Jesus Christ. Every time Blake uses the word ” Lamb” it is in The traditional image of Jesus, in the Catholic church, is seen as a lamb. The Christian values of gentleness, purity, and kindness are not only in Jesus but, also a lamb. In lines 16 and 17 the word “child” is mentioned. Jesus could also be seen as a child. Jesus left His mother and father in search of knowledge, as all children do when they go to school. He also lived under the watch of God, His father, like all children do. Finally, most people have heard how Jesus was killed on the cross. That showed how Jesus was seen as vulnerable, much like every child.
This entire poem is only filled with symbols of kindness until the the last two lines in the last stanza. In the end, a sign of unhappiness could be