"The Lamb"

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Letteratura
Download:	234
Data:	21.05.2001
Numero di pagine:	2
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

The lamb
by William Blake

The poem The Lamb belongs to the collection Songs of Innocence. Each poem of this collection corresponds to poetry of the collection Songs of Experience. At this poem corresponds The tiger. The theme of The Lamb and of The Tiger is the creation.

The poetry The Lamb is as a lullaby, it contains some refrains simple to remember. Its rhymes are (baciate). It contains also some recurrent sounds, as l, d, and t. It is short and immediate.

In the 1st strophe there are some questions, in the 2nd strophe there are answers, so means that the poet know the answers to the questions.

The poet describes the lamb with positive adjectives and nouns.

The lamb is in a rejoicing vale. The valley is a pleasant place. If here there is a danger, it will be visible, that is not possible in a forest. So there is a comparison between the valley and the forest. In The Tiger the animal is in a forest.

With the 2nd strophe begins the symbolism, there are recurrent references to the Bible.
The lamb symbolises the sacrifice, since Jesus has been sacrificed, the lamb symbolises the sacrifice for the humanity.

In The 2nd part the poet speaks in the first person: he expresses his opinion. This is a characteristic of Romantic poets.
Jesus Christ was born as a child, since a child is as pure as a lamb, the sacrifice of Christ is compared to the sacrifice of the lamb→ Christ is as a lamb
Here the poet intends a physical state.

In the 17th line the author doesn't intend a physical state, but a moral state. This is his state, he is pure in his heart. Also an adult can be pure, an adult can have a pure soul. Childhood is a frame of mind.

In the 19th line Blake says that God bless the lamb. But for Romantic poets God isn't the Christian God, but he is a superior spirit.