The Schoolboy : : By William Blake : : : :

I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! what sweet company!

But to go to school on 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 fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?

O! father and mother, if buds are nipped
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay,

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer’s fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

“The School Boy” is a 1789 poem by William Blake and published as a part of his poetry collection entitled Songs of Experience. These poems were later added with Blake’s Songs of Innocence to create the entire collection entitled “Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul”. These poems are illustrated with colorful artwork created by Blake first in 1789. The first printing in 1789 consisted of sixteen copies. : :

“The School Boy” is a poem written in the pastoral tradition that focuses on the downsides of formal learning. It considers how going to school on a summer day “drives all joy away”. ( Blake, William ). The Poetical Works of William Blake, ed. by John Sampson. London: Oxford University Press / 31 March 2015 ) The boy in this poem is more interested in escaping his classroom than he is with anything his teacher is trying to teach. In lines 16–20, a child in school is compared to a bird in a cage. Meaning something that was born to be free and in nature, is instead trapped inside and made to be obedient. ( John Samson writes. )

In 6 Stanzas with 5 lines each, this poem written in a patterned structure , contains a rhyme scheme of ABABB. : : The Main Theme of the poem is , Creativity flourishing With the spontaneous and natural education . Blake seems to believe that the schooroom education weakens the students who will then get poor learning. removing oneself from the classroom ( a metaphor for the society ) and returning to Nature with a view to uplifting the Soul and the imagination from the overused outworn tenacity persistent in the societal system. : : Anthony Ashley Cooper ( 1671 – 1713 ) English politician, philosopher, and writer; the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury’s idea was for the only relief from the worn down soul by returning to Nature , to redevelop community and benevolence ( disposition to do good To Society ) which was liked by Romanticism poet of the 18 Th Century , William Blake. : : ” summer, wind, blossoms, rain showers, birds and spring”are the allusive references to Nature found in this poem. The seasons of the Earth are matched with the seasons of the boy’s life who is like a “Caged Bird”, unable to sing and finds it difficult attaining free place in nature. : : To quote John Sampson again , ” The Schoolboy” continually brings up how being in a traditional school setting is draining, and will make a boy “forget his youthful spring”. : : : :

Stanza 1 : : “I love to rise in a summer morn1
When the birds sing on every tree; 2
The distant huntsman winds his horn, 3
And the skylark sings with me. 4
O! what sweet company! 5 : : lines ( 1 To 5 ) : :
Stanza 2 : : …………………………………………………
But to go to school on a summer morn, 6
O! it drives all joy away; 7
Under a cruel eye outworn, 8
The little ones spend the day 9
In sighing and dismay.” : : lines ( 6 To 10 ) : :

Stanza 1 is about a School boy’s love to rise listening to the horns blown by the Huntsman and in the sweet pleasant company of the birds singing on every tree and the Skylark singing with him. : : : :

Stanza 2 is about a little school boy’s spending a day in “sighing and dismay” : that is in ‘sad suspiration and despair or disheartening’ “driving all joy away”, “under a cruel outworn eye”, that is under a good full view of the Teacher in the classroom of the school. : : : :

Stanza 3 :”Ah! then at times I drooping sit,11
And spend many an anxious hour, 12
Nor in my book can I take delight, 13
Nor sit in learning’s bower, 14
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower. 15 lines 11 To 15 : : : : ……………………………………………..
Stanza 4 : : lines ( 11 To 15 ) : :
How can the bird that is born for joy 16
Sit in a cage and sing? 17
How can a child, when fears annoy, 18
But droop his tender wing, 19
And forget his youthful spring? 20 lines 16 To 20 ) : : : :

Stanza 3 is about the description of a classroom sitting ,: “drooping sit”( line 11 ) , Meaning , there is a sag or a sink in the chair / seat at the desk – it’s descending level up to the student’s knee that can cause a condition of tightness which is Not ‘comfortable’, Not enjoyable, for learning. Alternately, the sitting under a “worn” out “bower” is also not comfortable or enjoyable. This is because the “bower” is dry “under the dreary shower” ( lines 14 & 15 ) : Meaning the shower has no water in its pipe that could have kept the climbing plant of “bower vine” lively , leafy , shady bower, sitting under which for reading of book is neither enjoyable nor satisfactory : : Thus sitting in classroom or in bower vine is Not “delight(ful)” The Schoolboy is “anxious for many hours” ( line 12 ) , unhappy and unable to learn at The School. : : The dreariness indicates dullness and boringness as the child is lacking in spirit or interest in his learnings. The school appears an arid place of humdrum. : : : :

Stanza 4 is about a good boy in the school, who is compared to a “Caged Bird”: A bird can’t sit and sing in a cage , because “it is born for a joy”( lines 16 & 17 ) : Similarly , the school is not enjoyable to a child because he is anxious, for many hours there as irritations in sitting in, at the classroom desk or even under the bower vine annoy him. His fears annoy him. ( line 18 ) His “tender wings droop”( line 19 ) that is , sink ,or settle from , or as if from pressure. It is tense and taut and so unable to control the movement. “How can he forget his youthful spring ? ” A child asks this question. : : : :

Stanza 5 : : “O! father and mother, if buds are nipped 21
And blossoms blown away, 22
And if the tender plants are stripped 23
Of their joy in the springing day, 24
By sorrow and care’s dismay, 25 : : lines 21 To 25 : : : :

Stanza 5 is about how “the Schoolboys” are downhearted: ” dismayed” ( line 25 ) ; the school has filled them with apprehension and fear and so they are shocked and demoralised , “By sorrow and care’s dismay” ( line 25 ) : : A plea to “father and mother”is earnestly made with an extended Metaphor of the natural cycles of life. If the buds are nipped” ( line 21 ) , “And blossoms blown away,”( line 22 ) ; That is cut or severed/ pruned , the possibility of growing up in to a blossoming flower ,and further, to turning in to a fruit on its maturity comes to an end. And “If the tender plants are stripped” ( line 23 ) , that is , On such removal , Only minimal features remain and its functionality on attaining a maturity after the week’s of sprouting and growing are taken away. As a result , it is deprived of its meaningful existence, continuance and even of its title ; ” Of their joy in the springing day,” ( line 24 ) : A deprival “By sorrows and care’s dismay.” ( line 25 ) In this way , the Schoolboys are stripped off their joy at the School. : : : :

Stanza 6 : : “How shall the summer arise in joy, 26
Or the summer’s fruits appear? 27
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, 28
Or bless the mellowing year, 29
When the blasts of winter appear?” 30 : : : : lines ( 26 To 30 ) : : : :

Stanza 6 is about description of how school can never be enjoyable, but it is like a winter’s day blowing a strong draft and cold air through the warm summer. : ” “When the blasts of winter appear?” : ( line 30 ) : : How “the summer’s fruits appear? ( line 27 ) and that way, “the summer arise in joy,” ( line 26 ) : : The questions are asked how the Schoolboys can be expected to grow into fulfilling adults if they are put into such an unpromising environment as the school. Such a “springing day”( line 25 ) – a time of potential is restrained and is not getting developed into a “summer in Joy” ( line 26 ) in such conditions. It should have to be so attained to the “appearance of summer fruits”( line 27 ) : : Otherwise , ” how shall we gather what griefs destroy,” ( line 28 ) “Or bless the mellowing year ?” ( line 29 ) , that is whole time of “year” for making them or growing more mellow : ( softened , easygoing and more genial ) is attained. : : Because, further to this , more adversaries in the form of “blasts of winter (close to) appear.” ( line 30 ) : :

The summer’s fruits and an Autumn harvest keeps up life through the rough , tough and unkind Winter. The same way, with happy childhood , learning in the natural world will reap the benefits of a wise and fruitful time of fulfillment. Sending children to school interferes with this natural cycle and results in a lifetime of unhappiness with no possibility of learned wisdom. : : : :

“The Schoolboy” , A School Poem By William Blake, Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India December 20 , 2022 : : : : : : : :