Composition

When analysing a poem like “The Lamb” by William Blake, we advise you to begin by looking at both the outer and inner composition of the text, focusing on the poem’s stanzas, verses, beginning, subdivision, etc.

Outer composition

“The Lamb” is a poem which consists of two stanzas, each having ten lines or verses. The verses rhyme in couplets, two by two, like such:

Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;  (ll. 1-4)

The first stanza begins and ends with the same two rhetorical questions, which mirror the speaker’s curiosity regarding the lamb’s creator. The second stanza also contains repetitions, which represent the speaker’s realisation that both him and the lamb are God’s creatures, and that they have a connection to Christ because he is called the Lamb of God.

Inner composition

“The Lamb” is a poem which deals with the theme of creation and with the realisation that ...