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Songs of Innocence and of Experience

by William Blake

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What are some popular culture and literary connections to Blake's "The Lamb"?

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This poem reminds me mostly of Bible School songs or religious songs for children.  It has similar themes to "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Jesus Loves Me."  It is a pure and innocent expression of faith.  The innocent lamb, the child, and Jesus are all linked in the poem, and they are all made by a benevolent God.  There are many children's Christmas songs that express this type of belief: "The Friendly Beasts," for instance.   Other expressions of such optimism might be found Louis Armstrong's  "What a Wonderful World."

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This poem is a positive little poem about one of God's cute little creatures, a lamb. The poet addresses the lamb and asks the lamb if it knows who made it. The answer, of course, is God, who also calls himself a "lamb" - "The lamb of God".

So, anything in popular culture that presents the lamb as a soft, 

"woolly bright"

little creature would be the same as it is presented in this poem. The Lambchop puppet comes to mind, or that lamb sock puppet on the Bar None commercials.

If you want a true connection, think about all of the lamb dolls and stuffed animals you would find in a Christian book store. This is a pretty Christian poem, and many stories for young children point out to kids that they are "God's little lambs" - there are song about this, even. There are stuffed animals with Bible verses referring to the "lamb of God" - things like that.

I'm not really sure what you are going for, but that gives you some ideas. It is definitely not related to something evil like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS! ack!

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