The Lamb

威廉姆 布雷克 《羔羊》

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William Blake：

Born in 1757 brought up in London

The first important British romantic poet

Opposed to the classicism of the 18th century

Poems – full of romantic spirit, imagery symbolism and revolutionary spirit Forerunner of the romantic poetry of the 19th century

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(3) Little lamb, who made thee? 小羊羔谁创造了你 Dost thou know who made thee? 你可知道谁创造了你 Gave thee life, and bid thee feed 给你生命，哺育着你 By the stream and o'er the mead; 在溪流旁，在青草地 Gave thee clothing of delight, 给你穿上好看的衣裳 Softest clothing, woolly, bright; 最软的衣裳毛茸茸多漂亮; Gave thee such a tender voice, 给你这样温柔的声音， Making all the vales rejoice? 让所有的山谷都开心; Little lamb, who made thee? 小羔羊谁创造了你 Dost thou know who made thee? 你可知道谁创造了你; Little lamb, I'll tell thee, 小羔羊我要告诉你， Little lamb, I'll tell thee: 小羔羊我要告诉你; He is called by thy name, 他的名字跟你的一样， For He calls Himself a Lamb. 他也称他自己是羔羊; He is meek, and He is mild; 他又温顺又和蔼， He became a little child. 他变成了一个小小孩 I a child, and thou a lamb, 我是个小孩你是羔羊 We are called by His name. 咱俩的名字跟他一样。 Little lamb, God bless thee! 小羔羊上帝保佑你 Little lamb, God bless thee! 小羔羊上帝保佑你。

Summary

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.‖ 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.

Commentary

威廉姆 布雷克 《羔羊》

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. The poem’s apostrophic form contributes to the effect of naivete(天真), since the situation of a child talking to an animal is a believable one, and not simply a literary contrivance(发明，计谋). Yet by answering his own question, the child converts it into a rhetorical(修辞的) one, thus counteracting the initial spontaneous sense of the poem. The answer is presented as a puzzle or riddle, and even though it is an easy one—child’s play—this also contributes to an underlying sense of ironic knowingness or artifice in the poem. The child’s answer, however, reveals his confidence in his simple Christian faith and his innocent acceptance of its teachings.

The lamb of course symbolizes Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus as a lamb underscores(强调，下划线) the Christian values of gentleness, meekness(温顺), and peace. The image of the child is also associated with Jesus: in the Gospel(圣经心约中的福音书), Jesus displays a special solicitude(焦虑) for children, and the Bible’s depiction of Jesus in his childhood shows him as guileless(诚实的) and vulnerable.

These are also the characteristics from which the child-speaker approaches the ideas of nature and of God. This poem, like many of the Songs of Innocence , accepts what Blake saw as the more positive aspects of conventional Christian belief. But it does not provide a completely adequate doctrine, because it fails to account for(解释，说明) the presence of suffering and evil in the world.

The companion poem to this one, found in the Songs of Experience, is ―The Tyger‖; taken together, the two poems give a perspective on religion that includes the good and clear as well as the terrible and inscrutable(神秘，不可预测). These poems complement each other to produce a fuller account than either offers independently. They offer a good instance of how Blake himself stands somewhere outside the perspectives of innocence and experience he projects.