When first reading it, this sing-songy poem seems like it could be a children’s song but upon looking deeper we see that William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” deals heavily with the theme of religion. Blake is asking a lamb in a field if it knows who its creator is. Then Blake reveals that he knows who made this lamb, it was the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Evidence of this is in the lines “making all the vales rejoice” (9) because we know that Jesus brought joy to the world and “became a little child” (17) which refers to when he was brought into the world by Mary. Blake makes a connection between the lamb, himself, and Jesus when he says “we are called by his name” (19) because they are all children of God. He then blesses the lamb in the last two lines for being connected with the Lamb of God.
As for the engraving, it has a flock of sheep and a young boy talking to one sheep in the foreground with a cottage in the back, and the text is framed by vines. Unlike “The Tyger,” the engravings don’t offer much room for interpretation given that the differences in coloration don’t change the way we see the subjects. An archive changes how we read because it allows us access to all the work by one author, or by multiple authors on one topic. This lets us make connections quicker and read faster as well because we can look at the archive wherever we are, and we don’t have to carry around a heavy anthology.
I agree with the idea of Jesus and the lamb! I, too, was thinking that there was a connection between Jesus and a lamb. I think that lambs are also significant to innocence in such a way that they are innocent themselves; just like a child. Also thinking a little more broadly, I think that when he states, “Little lamb who made thee” he is generalizing the fact that God and Jesus are the figures who created people (1). There are so many connections to people and religion in this piece and I think this argues the point perfectly!
I agree with the OP that about the events of the poem and who is speaking. But I find it curious that lamb is consistently capitalized throughout. Usually, in a religious context, “He” is capitalized in reference to god. So to is the lamb here. This was probably not a mistake and is consistent even in the engravings. So it must have some significance. I just thought it was an interesting observation that could possibly change the way we read the poem. If Blake thought it was important enough to retain in the engravings than it must mean something.