Literature

The Lamb by William Blake is one of the authors most acclaimed work along with another poem of his of having a title named after an animalThe Tiger. The Lamb is a poem that relates the creation of humans to God, explaining that everyone on this planet came from the source of all things, and that is God. The following paragraphs are explication of the lines of the poem.

Line Analysis
Little Lamb ,who made thee (Line 1) Notice that the Lamb is capitalized suggesting that it is proper noun. Another first interpretation that can be done on the line is that it is referring to Christ since Jesus is known in the Christian world as the Lamb of God. The speaker is asking The Lamb who created Him but he knew very well who did as seen on the lines of the second stanza. The rest of the lines in stanza one bears the same question of asking the Little Lamb who created Himgiving examples of the wonderful things that the Creator has done for Him. Gave thee, life and give thee feed, (3) This particular line states that the Creator of The Lamb is the one that gave The Lamb the gift of life and the food that requires this life to be sustained. This part of the poem goes with belief of the dual identity of Christ, that Christ became man and that He is also God.  But it is not just the gift of life that God has given His Son, Christ. God has also given Christ another basic need, which is clothing. But not just any other kind of garment since, Christ is the son of God after all. Gave thee clothing of delight  Softest clothing woolly bright (5-6). Of course the line does not mean that Christ wore expensive clothes. The line is more likely to be an allusion for the cloth that wrapped Jesus when he was born because new born babies are wrapped in soft cloth after being born. And it is also probably because of the depictions of the baby Jesus on images and sculptures that Blake based his assumption. The last two lines that the first stanza holds is found on lines 7-8 where the speaker talks about the voice of Christ. Gave thee such a tender voice,  Making all the vales rejoice (7-8). What tender voice means is the work that has dome through his teachings when He came down to Earth. Christ spread the word of God through his preaching. His good news that He has spread made His voice tender. His voice is so tender that even the all the vales rejoice which is a generalization of all the places on Earth.

On the second stanza, the speaker finally tells the Little Lamb who His Creator is although this is done indirectly. He is called by thy name  For He calls Himself The Lamb It is only through this line that the identity of the Little Lamb is made clear. The Little Lamb that the speaker is talking about is us, all of Gods children. Christ, as mentioned is also known as The Lamb. The story of how Christ became a lamb (or a child) is then mentioned in the next line. He became a little child (16).  The story of Jesus is that God the Father sent The Holy Spirit to Earth and through the Holy Spirit that Mary conceived Christ, thus God Himself, in the person of Christ became a child. The relationship that men have with God is then explained on the last part of the poem. I a child, and thou a lamb  We are called by His name. (17-18). Man (being represented by the speaker) is the child while the lamb is Christ both being referred to in the poem as The Lamb.

Conclusion
Blake has a written a religious poem through The Lamb. But his greatest accomplishment with this poem is his ability to show the close relationship that man has with his creator. Though God is supreme creator, He also became man through the person of Christ.