The School Boy by William Blake
The Poem
I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the sky-lark sing with me.
O! What sweet company.
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! It drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.
Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour,
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.
How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child when fear annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?
O! Father and mother, if buds are nip’d
And blossom blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip’d
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay
How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruit appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
or bless the mellowing year
When the blasts of winter appear?
The Difficult Words in the Poem
Summer – A season when the weather is warmest.
Sky-lark – A bird with a sonorous voice.
Cruel – Wicked, unfriendly
Drooping – Fear
Bud – A growth on a plant that develops into leaf, flower or shoot.
Delight – To be happy.
Bower – Conducive place for learning.
Sighing and Dismay – Fear
Content Analysis
The first stanza opens with a young school boy, feeling happy when he wakes up on a summer morning with the singing of birds and the horns from hunters from a distance. He enjoys the company.
The second stanza opens on a sad note because; the boy is not happy going to school. He is not always free at school; his activities are going to be monitored by his teachers. This makes the environment of the school bored to him as he is not free to do what he likes.
The third stanza describes the environment in the school as uninteresting to the boy because, most of the hours are devoted to studying.
The fourth stanza compares the experience of the school boy to that of a caged bird,
“How can the bird that is born for joy
sit in a cage and sing?”
The boy believes that he is being oppressed and does not have a free hand in the classroom and the school environment like a caged bird, there is no pleasure for him in the classroom.
He compares himself to a dying plant, “drooping.” The activities in the classroom are solely directed by the teacher. The process of teacher-centered classroom environment is condemned here.
Stanzas 5&6 is full of agricultural imageries. He compares his experiences to a bud that is destroyed and plants that are stripped with which there cannot be fruitful summer. The boy believes he is being stripped of his youthful happiness which may affect his performance in the future.
“How shall the summer arise in joy?
Or the summer fruit appear?
Themes
Happiness: The poem starts on a happy note as the boy is free and happy with his environment, nobody controls his activities.
Sadness: From the second stanza, the boy experiences sadness as a result of a change in environment. He finds himself in an environment where he is not free to do as he likes; his activities are controlled and monitored by his teachers.
Beauty of Nature: The poem brings out the beauty in nature. The boy is happy when interacting with his environment; the song of birds, horns from hunters and the cool summer morning. All these thrill him and he enjoys it.
Faulty Educational System: The poem tactically condemns the teacher-centered system of education where teachers are always at the center of activities in the class. This is why the boy finds it uninteresting and boring. It also decries the strictness of teachers in the class, that it affects the students negatively.
Poetic Devices
Imagery: This is used in five where the boy compares his experiences to bud and plants that are destroyed.
Rhetorical Question: It is an expression in form of a question. We have this in stanzas four and six.
Metaphor; This is used in stanzas;
4, “drooped”
5, “tender plant”
This metaphorically refers to the boy.
Alliteration:
This is in lines;
3, “his horn”
4, “sky-lark sings”
6, “school in a summer”
16, “bird that is born”
28.”We gather what”
Tone: The opening tone of the poem is that of happiness but the tone changes to that of sadness in stanza two because of changes in the environment from summer mornings at home to school activities.
Language: The language of the poem is simple. The poet makes use of the appropriate figures of speech and choice of words to explain the subject matter.
For example, in stanza one, the boy expresses his love for summer morning with the following words, “I love to rise in a summer morn.” In the second stanza, he expresses his unhappiness about going to school thus,
“Oh, it drives all joy away.”
“How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?”
These expressions show the boy’s hatred for school.