An Analysis of Blakes The School Boy Essay - 1745 Words

An Analysis of Blakes The School Boy The School Boy is a typical example of Blakes Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in its themes and imagery. Like many of the other poems in this work it deals with childhood and the subjugation of its spirit and uses imagery from the natural world. While first published in 1789 as one of the Songs of Innocence there are strong reasons why Blake moved it to the Experience1 section of the 1794 edition. If we compare it to other poems in the collection it sits better with others in Experience than those in Innocence. On first reading The School Boy is the voice of a young boy complaining of being shut inside at his schoolwork instead of playing outside in the sun. When we†¦show more content†¦The contrast is heightened by the similarity of the opening lines, both ending in a summer morn and the way this forces a similar rhyme across the two, and the similar metre and beginning of O! what sweet company. ending Stanza I and O! it drives all joy away; in the second line of Stanza II. The similarities enhance the differences in the two images and show childhood in the two states of pastoral innocence and the experience in restrictive school days leaving the reader with a feeling for the loss of youth. The poet emphasises the oppression of the school room by offering the image Nor in my book can I take delight, nor sit in learnings bower in Stanza III reminding the reader that books and learning can be natural. In the illumination for the 1794 edition this is underscored by an image of a child enjoying a book atop a tree than can be seen at top right3. The domination of the natural and free is further enhanced by the analogy with a caged bird in Stanza IV. The poet uses the image of droop his tender wing, an echo of at times I drooping sit in the previous stanza which strengthens the image of children under a weight. We now have a distinct picture of crushed and destroyed life in the school room, the poet has successfully conveyed to the reader the loss and lassitude of the school boy. Stanzas V and VI are appeals to the alternate authority of the parents to realise the predicament of the child and the dangers in thisShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Voice of the Chimney Sweepers1180 Words   |  5 Pagesand other important Italian figures. Blake’s parents encouraged him to keep a record of all the masters he claimed to keep in contact with. Blake’s father, James Blake, gave him casts and engravings to keep this record. At the age of ten, Blake started at a drawing school named Henry Pars’ Drawing School. 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