The Lamb (For Further Study)

For Further Study

• Adams, Hazard, William Blake, A Reading of the Shorter Poems, University of Washington Press, 1963.

  Adams reads the Songs of Innocence and of Experience in the light of the symbolic system that Blake used in his later, more complex work. The speaker of “The Lamb” may be a child, but the poem is also an “adult poem” that makes the “ultimate statement of the one life of innocence.”

• Bowra, Maurice, The Romantic Imagination, Oxford University Press, 1950.

  This contains an illuminating chapter on Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Bowra emphasizes how Blake was able to distill complex thought into a few lines, managing at the same time to create the effect of light, melodious song.

• Gilham, D. G., William Blake, Cambridge University Press, 1973.

  Gilham gives detailed readings of many of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. He contrasts the simplicity of “The Lamb” with the complexity of “The Tyger”, and argues that the child’s perspective is equally valid and true.

• Glazer, Myra, “On the Dynamics of Blake’s Composite Art,” in William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, edited by Harold Bloom, Modern Critical Interpretations, Chelsea House, 1987.

  Glazer interprets “The Lamb” in the light of another poem from Songs of Innocence and of Experience,“The Little Black Boy,” which also connects God, children, and lambs.

• Hirsch, E. D., Jr., Innocence and Experience: An Introduction to Blake, Yale University Press, 1964.

  This is one of the best introductions to Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Hirsch likens “The Lamb” to “Infant Joy” and “Nurse’s Song,” and praises the artfulness of the poem’s construction.

• Johnson, Mary Lynn, and John E. Grant, eds., Blake’s Poetry and Designs, W. W. Norton, 1979.

  This is one of the best editions of Blake. It has many color and black-and-white illustrations, excellent notes, and includes many of Blake’s letters, as well as critical essays by contemporary and modern commentators.

• Nurmi, Martin, William Blake, Kent State University Press, 1976.

  Nurmi argues that the metrical effects and repeated lines in “The Lamb” suggest that Blake intended the poem to be sung.