Blake and His Preromantic Stance in The Lamb

The term Preromantic defines the sensibilities and spiritual states, trends, ideas and forms
that developed at the end of the Neoclassical Period.The writers from this period begin to be
focused on feelings and everything that surrounds the human being,namely nature rather
than reason,simplicity and also thinking beyond the real world (transcendental
aspect).William Blake has this stance in his poem “The Lamb”.
First of all, nature is the main focus in his poem,which for Blake is a source of inspiration and
peace.We can we can deduce from this thing Blake’s preromantic stance in this poem.This
title is part from the pastoral life which is, for Blake, a refuge from all sufferings. It suggests
all good characteristics in the world that lead the humanity to relaxation and peace.
Secondly, another clue of Blake’s preromantic stance is even in the first three lyrics of this
poem where Blake thinks about the process of creation of even the simplest natural creature
and also of the entire world:” Little Lamb who made thee/Dost thou know who made
thee/Gave thee life & bid thee feed”. This thing reffers to nature too,a fact that gives us a
clue that he uses natural setting which is considered as a flame for his inspiration.
In the third place, another obvious evidence for William Blake’s preromantic stance is
simplicity.The poem is simple in terms of its form, subject matter and diction.According to the
form, the poem has two stanzas with ten lines each. The first two and last two lines of each
stanza are repeated like the chorus or refrain of a song. Blake speaks about the process of
creation in a very simple form using a simple natural element,”the lamb” and simple words
such as “lamb”, “little”, “child”, “life”, “mild”, “delight”, “bright”, “rejoice”.
Finnaly,the last evidence of Blake’s preromantic stance in this poem is the transcendental
aspect. From the very beginning, the title symbolizes the Christ which gives us an
impression about the spiritual connection with a greater power,which continues through the
poem.In other words,Blake suggests the fact that everything is the creation of God and
everything has a connection with Him.These ideas are suggested by the lyrics: I a child &
thou a lamb/We are called by his name.The Child,The Lamb and God are connected to each
other and they share the same major characteristics of goodness, love, softness and
innocence.
To sum of up,William Blake has a preromantic stance in this poem because it was
written,like all his poems against the ordered rules of the Neo-Classical period.He is one of
the first poets
which emphasized the escape of the human from the real world and the contemporary life
leading to the birth of a new era both from a literary and social point of view:Romanticism.In
my opinion, William Blake is the clear evidence of the transition period between Neo-
Classicism and Romanticism,namely preromanticism.He brought something entirely new to
the literary field that served as a model for many poets and writers from that period.