THE LAMB

Question 1

Summarise the poem

Answer 1

The speaker addresses the lamb, asking it who created it and praising its gentle nature.

Question 2

Describe the structure of the poem

Answer 2

• Irregular stanza lengths
• Mix of iambs and anapaests (jaunty and optimistic feel)
• Interrogative structure (evokative of the bible)
• Paralellism

Question 2

Describe the language of the poem

Answer 2

• Simple, accessible in contrast to the complex poetic counterpart “The Tyger” (contributes to its memorability and oral performance)
• Many direct and indirect references to the bible.”
• Rooted in Christian theology “He became a little child” This line evokes the the theological concept that God became human in the form of Jesus Christ.

Question 3

Biblical allusions

Answer 3

• Passages in Genesis: “So God created mankind in his own image”
• Gospel of John “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
• “Wooly bright” Jesus described as having wooly hair.

Question 4

Symbolic interpretations of the lamb

Answer 4

1) The lamb, and nature are all manifestations of God and his divine will.
2) The lamb, the divine and nature are all in a symbiosis, a balanced nurturting relationships that benifits them all.
3) Blake’s sermonising is directed at readers as he reveals the engimas behind creation and questions whether readers are aware of their divine orgin (all dieties reside in the human breast)
4) The Lamb and the Tyger represents the 2 contary states of the human soul. The lamb is symbolic of innoncence and the humitlity of man, the Tyger represents the violent/ terrifying and untamble imagination, potential within man and God
5) The lamb is a representation of the inner child/ symbolic of the innnocence and purity within the individual.