Lyric Poem · Nature
The Lamb
by William Blake · 1789
Little Lamb, who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, 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, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Lamb” by William Blake — quilloak.com/poems/the-lamb
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Lamb
- Poet
- William Blake
- Published
- 1789
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Nature, For Kids
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 20 lines · 2 stanzas of 10 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 6-7 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
- Refrains
- “Little Lamb, who made thee”“Dost thou know who made thee,”“Little Lamb, who made thee?”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- William Blake1757–1827
- Source record
- PoetryDBThe Lamb by william-blake, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1789
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 78f805df257141f9…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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