Mary’s Lamb
A much-loved children’s poem, even if most of us struggle to remember more than a few lines.
1830
King William IV 1830-1837
A much-loved children’s poem, even if most of us struggle to remember more than a few lines.
1830
King William IV 1830-1837
Sarah Hale was an American novelist, poet, magazine editor and literary critic, who campaigned vigorously against slavery and for the employment and education of women (she helped found Vassar College). A great believer in women as ‘God’s appointed agent of morality’, Hale saw the homemaker as crucial to the happiness of the nation. Her collection of Poems for Our Children (1830) included ‘Mary’s Lamb’.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day —
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
And so the Teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear;
And then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said ‘I’m not afraid —
You’ll keep me from all harm.’
‘What makes the lamb love Mary so?’
The eager children cry —
‘O, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The Teacher did reply;—
‘And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate her ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.