WILLIAM BLAKE

1757 - 1827

This poem provides an example of a metrical pattern based on trochaic feet.

    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 callèd by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb:
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child:

To Trochee in the Glossary
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I a child, and thou a lamb.
We are callèd by His name.
    Little Lamb, God bless thee.
    Little Lamb, God bless thee.

This poem provides an example of trochaic tetrameter catalectic in English poetry. Blake varied the metrical pattern. While the above meter is predominant, five lines in the poem contain variations.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

In early drafts, the text of the first stanza was exactly the same as the last. In a revision, Blake changed the fourth line of the first stanza to "Could frame," thus reserving the stronger effect of "Dare frame" for the final line of the poem.

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
When thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

To Trochee in the Glossary
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To Tetrameter in the Glossary
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To Catalectic in the Glossary
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When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?