The lamb is a traditional image of Jesus that denotes values of gentleness, meekness, and peace. Each stanza of “The Lamb” has five couplets, with a BABY rhyme scheme. This means that the rhymes are easy to follow and close-knit which helps bring out the child feel of the kinglike poem. The metonymy of the lamb is being taught as Jesus, which has biblical symbolism (as well as an allusion) as the “lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world… ” (NASA John 1:28-29) Also In this poem in line 15 Blake personifies the Lamb in similarity with Jesus.
This poem reminds us the reader how we are lost without a creator, we would be nothing without the sent lamb as a sacrifice for us. The use of word phrasing paints this Image. Right from the beginning, the first stanza contains the question to a child, “Little Lamb, who made thee? ” (Blake stanza 1). Followed by this question the second gives the answer. “The Lamb”, is compared with a child to a lamb In the first stanza where the lamb Is also a metaphor. In the second stanza a metaphor compares the lamb to Jesus Christ.
In the second stanza the lamb is also a biblical allusion. This is very important to the poem for a few reasons; the metaphor brings out the teaching instructive aspect of the memo to a child teaching where humans came from and the greatness that Jesus brings into the world. Also gives the reader a humbling but rejoicing feeling towards the poem and Its meaning. Catching the rhythm or rhyme scheme Is also important. The BABY is a simple rhyme scheme that has a soft flow for every two rhyming lines.
Though this Is accurate in the first stanza, it becomes more complex in the second stanza by the lines “He is called by thy name, for he calls himself a lamb” and “l a child and thou a lamb” (Blake Stanza 2). These lines stand out in the poem because hey have their own rhyme scheme which sets it apart from the rest of the poem. Ultimately these lines Focus the reader’s view on seeing the glory of Jesus our creator. “Thanks be to God, for his son”! For a further breakdown, “Thee” is repeated at the end of eight lines. The first two lines repeat and so do the last two lines in the first stanza.
They repeat because It Is gaining progression of the question “who made thee? ” So in the second stanza, the first two express the lamb of God made him, which leads to the joy at the end of the memo “God Bless Ethel” (Blake Stanza 2). Know that the poem is about Jesus Christ. He brings life and is the father to all his needs. Jesus Is represented as the lamb because he was the perfect sacrifice to take away our sins. The lamb was a blessing from birth, to adult years of the lamb and it’s all from God. All this is expressed by the repetition.
There are two set couplet groups of repetition: in the beginning and end of the second stanza. The repetition brings fourth Just how important the imagery of our aerator and that entire he has done for his people. Again this is leaving the author’s reader with emotions of happiness and passion for this great lamb. The Great Lamb, the metonymy of “lamb” is that he is a child that comes in relation to his elders then it grows into the lamb being Jesus and lastly the father of all lambs. The lamb is gives human traits, given the discussion on human creation.
Examples of this with the visionary the readers get from wording, stream, “O’er the mead”, “clothing of delight ; and a tender voice. These metonymy’s draw in the unman qualities the lamb is given creating the religious allusion that paints the picture that indeed the lamb is Christ. The kinglike poem brings forth the love for Jesus, as the giver of like and all good things. The author William Flake’s childlike poetry of question and answer were simple but meaningful because though childlike, all human creation has held these questions before. The poem is kinglike of thanksgiving for Jesus that comes from the lamb.
