Blake's presentation of Childhood and the Natural World

How does Blake present childhood and the natural world?
Blake viewed the natural world as an energising force for good, linking it often with children through the value of play, natural instincts and life forces along with the idea that ‘energy is eternal delight.’ Nurse’s Song [I] and [E], ‘The Ecchoing Green’ and ‘The Garden of Love’ exemplify Blake’s love for childhood intertwining with nature. In these poems Blake shows how authority intrudes with this Arcadian tone as the Utopia is corrupted with the influence of the church and other powers. Blake, under the reign of George III, saw oppression at authority as there were more than “200 offences that were punishable by death” Blake opted to take the voice from the hegemony and support the weak and marginalised victims of society.
In ‘The Ecchoing Green’ and ‘The Garden of Love’ Blake presents childhood and the natural world as a force for good which is ruined by authority. ‘The Ecchoing Green’ is a poem where literally children stop playing sports to rest at the end of the day. Blake conveys an idyllic setting through the use of simplistic rhyme scheme which gives the effect of a nursery rhyme emphasising the focus on children. This theme is continued with a choice of basic monosyllabic words. The overall tone of the poem is happy through sounds such as “bells ring” and positive imagery with “welcome the Spring.” This Arcadian setting is furthered through Blake’s illuminations, depicting adults as a nurturing, maternal figure. Normally Blake conveys white as a negative image however he chooses to use it differently to represent a purer, innocent setting through the clothing of the children and their overall positioning in a natural, open setting. Although this optimism alters in the second half of the poem as the adult voice of the poem says “the sun does descend” contrasting to the start of the poem. The elongated words at the end of the final verse “weary” “merry” “descend” contrast the shorter lexis at the beginning of the poem to evoke the lengthening of the day. At a literal reading this could be the end of a singular day, however other readers may argue that the sun going down “on the darkening green” is depicting the end of childhood as a whole and therefore the end of innocence. At an extreme level this could be interpreted as death. Nevertheless it is most likely that this is conveying the transition to adulthood.
‘The Garden of Love’ is a poem where Blake depicts how freedom is overpowered with authority, predominantly, the church. Although no children are outwardly stated, it could be interpreted that the “flowers” represent children as the phrase “tombstones where the flowers should be” depicts that death (the tombstone) is taking the place of the life (flower) and that the church is killing the children in a figurative sense of murdering their freedom. Ironically, the beginning of the poem starts with a light rhythm but this is probably a false optimism as it is not truly meant, but does carry similar tones of optimism as ‘The Ecchoing Green’ which began with more positive imagery. The fact that the chapel gates are “shut” conveys the strong unwelcoming that is provided from the church. In addition, the phrase “Thou Shalt Not” is an imperial command with the church dictating what people should and shouldn’t do – which Blake greatly resented. The anaphora of “And” in the final verse carries a monotonous tone giving a never ending effect of how much is being oppressed. Moreover, Blake depicts the priests in “black gowns” which could explain why he conveyed white as a more positive poem in ‘The Ecchoing Green’ – due to Blake wanting to evoke a sense of disgust at the church he contrasts the “black” gowns of the priests against the white innocence of the children. Furthermore, the first verse contains one line which begins with “And” the second verse contains two lines together beginning with “And” and the final verse begins with all four lines starting with “And” this continuous increase of “And” throughout the whole poem could depict the increasing effect that the church has on society and the scale that they are taking away freedom. The final line of “binding with briars my joys & desires” contains plosives which strengthen the aggressiveness of the sound. The use of “briars” also contains connotations with religion and the barbed wire crown that Jesus wore, similar to the “Thou Shall Not” and the implication of the Ten Commandments. Therefore Blake present the Arcadian setting as corrupted through the power of the church, with the “binding” not only providing a restriction but being somewhat painful showing the true damage that the church is causing. Furthermore the rhyme scheme alters from ‘The Ecchoing Green’ which carried a simplistic AABBCCDD pattern; however, ‘The Garden of Love’ utilises a rhyme scheme of ABCB which shows an alteration which is an implied effect of the church. This theme is continued through Blake’s illuminations of the poems as the figures are in a similar white outfit but in a restrictive praying position and a less natural setting showing how the Church removes the original idyllic Utopia of ‘The Ecchoing Green’.
The ‘Nurse’s Song’ pairing allows us to appreciate the contextual shift from literal to metaphorical and Blake’s intention behind this – the first presents and idealised world of youthful freedom and happiness but one which when re-visited in [E] seems a darker, more sinister and fearful place. In ‘Nurse’s Song’ [I] Blake uses a similar technique as to ‘The Ecchoing Green’ with a simplistic lexical choice and continuous rhyme scheme. The internal rhyme such as “play” and “away” or “rest” and “breast” also continues the notion of children with a nursery rhyme like tone. The concrete nouns of “hills” “sheep” and “children” also coincide with this idea. Furthermore the poem is set in a pastoral setting which is demonstrated through Blake’s illumination using warm colours and an idyllic blue sky along with children in a free, open, easy-moving and natural setting. Whilst this setting may be seen as romanticised or idealistic, it could also be interpreted as realistic, which, although unlikely, could be conveyed through a literal interpretation of the children. Nevertheless I maintain that it is probable that the poem is idealistic through the “ecchoed” of the hills, which connotes ‘The Ecchoing Green’ through a jubilant celebration of the children who “shouted & laugh’d.”
‘The NURSES Song’ [E] presents childhood and the natural world as a spiteful viewpoint from authority. The point of view that the poem is from suggests that the “NURSE” is spiteful as she was never allowed to play. The phrase “face turns green and pale” is emotive imagery utilising a colour which has previously been associated with pastoral and the natural world; but here represents a sickness. Furthermore, the fact that “the sun has gone down” connotes ‘The Ecchoing Green’ and the fact that the children lose their innocence. In addition, the internal rhyme is used to spite the child as “Your spring & your day are, wasted in play” uses the simplistic rhyme scheme of the other poems but turns it into a detrimental statement against the children. Moreover “your winter and night in disguise” shows the hiding of the children from the reality which is also conveyed through Blake’s illumination with the use of colder colours. Because ‘NURSES Song’ [E] is half the length of ‘Nurse’s Song’ [I] it gives more impact conveying the underlying reality and the effect of authority. Blake’s truthful reality is evoked through the coldness of vivid and ambiguous imager of children in the natural world – where TS Elliot state that Blake’s poetry “has the unpleasantness of great poetry.”