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In his own words

The Lamb

William Blake · 1757-1827 · From Songs of Innocence (1789)

Little Lamb, who made thee Dost thou know who made thee,Gave thee life, and bid thee feedBy 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 LambHe 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!

A child asks a lamb who made it, then answers the question. The counter-question lives in Experience, in The Tyger below.

The poems are in the public domain. The texts here follow Poems of William Blake, Project Gutenberg ebook 574, reproduced verbatim, punctuation included. That late 19th century text keeps the famous Tyger spelling while smoothing some others, so a few lines read slightly differently than in Blake's original etched plates. Songs of Innocence first appeared in 1789, Songs of Experience in 1794, combined by Blake into one book whose title page promises to show the two contrary states of the human soul. The introductions and groupings are ours.