The poem is a child’s song, in the form of a question and answer.
The first stanza is rural and descriptive, while the second focuses on abstract spiritual matters and contains explanation and analogy. The child’s question is both naive and profound. The question (“who made thee?”) is a simple one, and yet the child is also tapping into the deep and timeless questions that all human beings have, about their own origins and the nature of creation.
It was ushered in by Thomas Percy ----“Reliques of Ancient English Poetry”
2) changing modes in poetry
reject: reason → accept: feelings
society →
nature
flowing l’s and soft vowel sounds contribute
to this effect, and also suggest the bleating of a lamb or the lisping character of a child’s chant.
Commentary
The poem begins with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” The speaker, a child, asks the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding, its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.”
History and Anthology of English Literature
18th Century -2
(Enlightenment) Classicism ; Sentimentalism ; Pre-romanticism; Realism Romanticism
E. Pre-romanticism in English poetry and novel:
3) William Blake:
the most independent and the most original of the romantic poets of the 18th century
a. Life: engraver b. Works: “Songs of Innocence” “Songs of Experience” P288 P289
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?
In the next stanza, the speaker attempts a riddling answer to his own question: the lamb was made by one who “calls himself a Lamb,” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. The poem ends with the child bestowing a blessing on the lamb.
imitation →
innovation
city →
countryside
• Touching on matters of the heart like love, death, and loyalty, and fresБайду номын сангаас and emotional in tone and mood, the poems contributed a good deal toward reviving interest in and restoring feeling to poetry.
1) Romantic Revival: • a strong protest against the bondage of
Classicism, • a recognition of the claims of passion and
emotion, • a renew interest in medieval literature
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!
Form
“The Lamb” has two stanzas, each containing five rhymed couplets. Repetition in the first and last couplet of each stanza makes these lines into a refrain(叠句；叠歌), and helps to give the poem its song-like quality. The