For a Lamb - Richard Eberhart

            For a Lamb, a poem beautifully written by Richard Eberhart, seeks only to emphasize realism as well as purity and innocence in the natural process. The use of symbolism in both stanzas of the poem creates a contrast between both the role of innocence in the natural process but also the beauty in death as an entity. Ebehart uses the lamb and daises symbolize innocence and highlight the uncorrupted beauty in nature. In the poem, For a Lamb, Richard Eberhart uses symbolism to form the idea of innocence and nature as a unifying process free of corruption.

            The symbolism of the poem allows Eberhart to highlight the innocence of the natural process as well as a putrid, yet beautiful lamb. Eberhart’s description of the lamb beginning in the first line starts soft, describing the hill in a subdued tone, considering he seeks to describe a decaying lamb. The next line perhaps shows this most prominently, Eberhart writes, “Propped with daises. The sleep looked deep”, (Eberhart, 2). Here, the serenity of nature highlights the beauty in the natural process of death, regardless of the nature of the lamb. The mellow description of this rotting carcass is symbolic of the natural process of life and death. The description of the serene environment also gives the feel of tranquility. This is seen what Eberhart explains the face of the lamb, saying, “The face nudged in the green pillow” (Eberhart, 6). The softness of the “green pillow” shows how beautiful and calm nature can be even in the most destructive stage, which in this case is death. This serenity is contrasted with the idea of rotting and exposure to death in the next line. Eberhart states “But the guts were out for crows to eat” (Eberhart, 7). The crow, being the symbol of darkness and death, contrasts with the idea of the lamb. The lamb represents purity and innocence but also has Christian undertones as its special significance in the bible. In this instance, the contrast between the crow and the lamb is significant because it symbolizes the natural processes of life and death and how both are necessarily beautiful because they remain uncorrupted through the lamb’s innocence. Another recognizable symbol that plays a role in this contrast is the repetition of daises. Daises in general are representative of innocence as well. This further builds the idea of innocence being pivotal in nature. The role of innocence in death is ultimately used to maintain the idea that even death can be beautiful because it is natural and uncorrupted.

            In this poem, Eberhart seeks to develop the idea of nature being perfect regardless of its destructive nature. The description of the putrid lamb highlights the grotesque tendencies of natural processes but also maintains that these processes can be beautiful because they are simply natural. This seemingly comments on not society’s intervention into nature but also nature being free of humanity’s harmful stranglehold that disrupts these processes, regardless of whether or not they are potentially harmful or have positive affects.