Lamb
ChaoticStray
Profile
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, William Blake
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
about
A look at The Lamb in Songs of Innocence
Published in 1789, Songs of Innocence was written by William Blake. Though there are many poems written within the work itself, The Lamb is quite the intriguing specimen. Not only, for how it is written and the numeral metaphors, allusions, and allegories within it, but also due to a later work, that was combined into a single published book by Blake some years later. These two, and then ultimately single, set of literary works illustrates a common ideology of duality that was present around the time Blake was alive. Songs of Innocence shows situations and scenarios through a more niave and, ultimately, innocent eyes, while Songs of Experence shows them through more keen, and thus experienced eyes. Looking at only The Lamb or Tyger will only show you half of the picture that Blake was trying to paint with his works.
If you look at how The Lamb is written, including specific words, captitlization, and placement of lines (which is no available in the pasted version above, please look at PoetryFoundation.org, it will have the poem in its original format), meter, and such you can tell that it is a very light-hearted poem. First off, the sing-song way that the poem conveys makes it similiar to that of a Sunday school song or childhood song. Not only that, but the narrator in the poem seems to speak to the Lamb in an almost educational way that you would speak to a child. As far as rhyme scheme goes, though it is more of a basic rhyme scheme ( aa, bb, cc, etc) it is very upbeat. In the descriptions of either the Lamb or the equal comparison of Jesus (The captial L Lamb, which is a Bible reference) the narrator points out certain qualities that would appeal to that of children, tone of voice is very important aspect, for example, when speaking to a child and how people spoke to you is often remembered into adulthood. The gifts that are given to the lamb in this poem are feed, water (stream), home (mead, meaning meadow), and clothes (wool) are the basic needs of someone determined by Maslow's Heirachy. This poems shows how things in life are good and pleasant, it doesn't mention predators which would darken the poem ever so slightly, and leaves the reader with a niave look out on life. There is no sign of earning all of the lamb's basic needs, they were just given to them, and that is how most children are raised. Lastly, it is often that a child would adopt the religion of the parent, and therefore praise to God is thanking for what they have.
design
A look at the symbolisms within the character.
Age- This character is a child to directly correspond with the poem's youthful feel. Giving the character youth will also give the niave outlook on life.
Blue Eyes- Babies are often born with blue eyes, if you have raised any animals and have seen birth, all eyes start blue. After a while, the blue will develop into the person's eye color but sometimes they stay blue. Blue eye color is a recessive trait (small x or y) and is a genetic mutation in which millions of people are recipients of in modern times. The choice for blue eyes stems back to the child aspect.
Color Palette- I wanted a very limited amount of base colors to be used on this character. The most important is there is a distinct lack of darker or saturated colors. I wanted to keep true to the true white color of a lamb that is pictured in the poem. Keeping the colors light and uplifting was the goal here.
Daisies- Though it may be specificially correlated to myself, daisies often remind me of childhood and innoncence. The flower symbology is innocence, purity, love, beauty, fertility, childbirth, motherhood, and new beginnings and was used as Freya's flower.
Fair Child- It is true that most people have an idea in their minds of what a fair child looks like, and life experiences help influence this. To me, blue eyes, curly, blonde hair, and freckles often represent this for me.
Lamb Aspects- Because the poem itself is about a lamb, I wanted to keep some of that within the character, so I went for ears, nose, and legs of a lamb.
Unicorn Horn- I know that lambs do not have horns, but the reason why I added a unicorn horn is because the symbology of a unicorn, especially a unicorn horn has aspects that I was searching for when creating this character. In the past, Unicorns meant freedom, magic, purity, innocence and healing and in modern times they mean positivity, joy, hope, pride and diversity.
duality
A look at the contrast between The Lamb and Tyger.
WIP- This section of the profile is currently a work in progress. I am not sure at what point this portion will be completed so if you are interested in watching out for it, please favorite and it will always tell you when I update it, check up on it regularly, or message me and I will see what I can do as far as alerting others that I completed this part~ The main thing that is needed here is me getting someone to draw Tyger for me, which I am in the process of gathering funds for, due to it being the Holiday season, this might take a bit as I have other priorities. Thank you for your patience.
wip
A work in progress...
WIP- This section of the profile is currently a work in progress. I am not sure at what point this portion will be completed so if you are interested in watching out for it, please favorite and it will always tell you when I update it, check up on it regularly, or message me and I will see what I can do as far as alerting others that I completed this part~ The main thing that is needed here is me getting someone to draw Tyger for me, which I am in the process of gathering funds for, due to it being the Holiday season, this might take a bit as I have other priorities. Thank you for your patience.
wip
A work in progress...
WIP- This section of the profile is currently a work in progress. I am not sure at what point this portion will be completed so if you are interested in watching out for it, please favorite and it will always tell you when I update it, check up on it regularly, or message me and I will see what I can do as far as alerting others that I completed this part~ The main thing that is needed here is me getting someone to draw Tyger for me, which I am in the process of gathering funds for, due to it being the Holiday season, this might take a bit as I have other priorities. Thank you for your patience.
