william blake's nurse's song
Essay on Blake's Nurse's Song in Songs of InnocenceIn Blake's Nurse's Song in Songs of Innocence, the idea of innocence is largely presented by showing the children's carefree enjoyment of present. At the same time, we also see evidence suggesting the interconnection between innocence and experience shown by the nurse's calling. In this essay, I will explain these points by examining the relationship between image and meaning in this poem. The first two lines of Nurse's Song set the entire poem a background of green meadow and hills with children's voices and laughing echoed, which naturally brings readers a vivid sense of enjoyment of present. Followed that we see the portrait of the nurse, whose heart is at rest. By looking at Blake's drawing in this poem, we see a blonde young lady who is the nurse, dressed in finery, sitting under an oak and reading a book, I again would naturally associate this lady with beauty, prime and of c
In the next two stanzas and the first two lines of the last stanza, we see the interaction between the nurse and children, and this is when the nurse's experience comes in. And finally our lady gives in, which can also be seen as her obedience to the children or on a deeper level, the initial obedience of experience to innocence, which makes the interconnection between innocence and experience again more complicated. The nurse is trying to persuade the children to go home by saying "the sun is gone down and the dews of night arise", this shows the lady has foreseen the danger that is associated with dark night , and of course this kind of forecast into the future requires experience, therefore now the story extends from the enjoyment of present to the danger of future and it seems to me signs or experience are inevitably emerging out of innocence . She still perceives quite a bit of innocence but more and more impact of experience is starting to emerge on her; such a person is a perfect model for "showing the two contrary states of the human soul". Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1969. When in the last line "the little ones leaped & shouted & laughed" is "echoed" by the hills, it seems to me that the ending of the story is echoed back to its beginning where the "laughing is heard" on the green meadow and hills. I think the choice of the character is also because a lady at her prime can be seen as a transitional stage from innocence to experience. This phenomenon gives readers a feeling that the enjoyment of present is now blessed with eternity, where darkness shall never fall and the carefree enjoyment of present and innocence shall rule forever. William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
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