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Things Worth Remembering: William Blake’s The Lamb
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Things Worth Remembering: William Blake’s The Lamb
William Blake’s Pity, painted circa 1795. (Getty Images)
The holy poem that inspired a haunting piece of music.
By Douglas Murray
04.02.23 — Culture and Ideas
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Things Worth Remembering: William Blake’s The Lamb
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Welcome back to Douglas Murray’s Sunday column, where he presents passages from great poets he has committed to memory—and explains why you should, too. If you want to listen to Douglas read this week’s work, William Blake’s “The Lamb,” click below.

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Ecstasy is one of the things that poetry is especially good at. That can be sexual ecstasy, ecstasy in nature, ecstasy in God—and the ecstasy of creation, the furious celebration of making something timeless and transcendent.

Some years ago, I was walking through London’s Soho with a friend who knew the area well. He suddenly stopped on a corner near Poland Street. “That is where William Blake used to live,” he said, pointing at a building that had long since been replaced. “And that is where he saw God.”

My friend was not remotely religious, and so the thrill of his statement struck me even more forcibly.

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Douglas Murray
Douglas Murray is the best-selling author of seven books, and is a regular contributor at the New York Post, National Review, and other publications. His work as a reporter has taken him to Iraq, North Korea, northern Nigeria, and Ukraine. Born in London, he now lives in New York.
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