The Lamb

(The Lamb, written and illustrated by
William Blake, 1757-1827, English poet,
painter, engraver, and mystic visionary)

Up to now, each of the poems and images this month has involved two artists, a poet and a painter. Today’s poem, however, is an example of ekphrasis in which the writer is also the creator of the image.

William Blake was a poet and engraver who produced his own collections of poems with complementary illustrations that he engraved and then watercolored by hand.

“The Lamb” belongs to Songs of Innocence, the first of two books “shewing the two contrary states of the human soul.”

With his rhetorical questions, the poet suggests that the gentle character of the lamb reflects the nature of its Creator, and we too, as God’s children, share that quality. The words and imagery echo the Christian tradition of Christ, God made man, the Lamb of God.

THE LAMB

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and he is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb.
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!