William Blake Diction

William Blake’s “The Lamb” is a poem in which a child enthusiastically tells his livestock about his creator. Blake puts allusion, syntax, and diction to use in this piece to communicate with his audience. In “The Lamb,” William Blake calls humanity to act as Jesus did through a conversation between a young child and a lamb.

The message of this poem is not something that just jumps out and is easy to pick up. The second stanza shows that the child, the lamb he is speaking to, and Jesus all possess the same qualities. “He is meek, and he is mild/He became a little child” (Lines 15-16) represents Jesus’s gentle, humble nature. “I a child, and thou a lamb./We are called by his name.” In lines 17-18, the speaker expresses that he and the lamb should

In this poem, the speaker is a child. This is evident through a lack of complicated words in the piece. Every line is written using language one would hear from a child. The speaker’s simple diction makes it easy for any audience to understand what he is saying. This strengthens the message of the poem, saying that it it is possible for everyone to act as Jesus did. Another indication of the speaker’s youth is the repetition and questioning. Lines 1-2 and 9-19 are questions directed at the lamb. “Little Lamb, who made thee?/Dost thou know who made thee?” Lines 11-12 and 19-20 repeat themselves “Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,/Little Lamb I’ll tell thee./Little Lamb, God bless thee!/Little Lamb, God bless thee!” The speaker, an enthusiastic child, repeats himself to make sure this information is relayed. The poem is also very short and to-the-point, appealing to the small attention span of a child. It doesn’t include much figurative language. The child tells his lamb about things exactly how they are. “Gave thee life, and bid thee feed/By the stream and o’er the mead” (Lines 5-6) This straightforward language is another factor that contributes to the youthful mood of the piece. The simple diction used and small amount of information given in the poem capture the essence of a child-like faith. The speaker’s faith makes it possible for him to trust what Jesus is calling him to do – put the concerns of others before his