The school boy
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William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker during the Romantic Age. Though largely unrecognized during his lifetime, he is now considered an important figure in Romantic art and poetry. Blake produced symbolically rich works that embraced imagination. The document discusses Blake's poem "The School Boy" which contrasts the joy of a summer morning with the drudgery of being trapped inside a classroom, likening the boy to a caged bird. It analyzes the poem's themes of alternative education methods and the importance of learning from nature.
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The school boy
- 3. William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He produced diverse and symbolically rich work, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human
- 8. The first few lines of the poem marks the freshness of summer morning and the fragrance of Innocence. The boy expresses his liking towards the song of birds and the huntsman blowing the horn. He likes the company but suddenly the joy turns bitter as he should attend the school and sit in the classroom under the cruel eyes of teachers. It drives all the energy and the joy of summer. The boy is compared to a bird in cage meaning he was born to be free but instead is now trapped inside the classroom for formal education.
- 9. The Poem is arranged in six stanzas with five lines each, it contains a rhyme scheme of ababb. This poem reflects William Blake’s thoughts of alternative methods of education. It shows the draining element of classroom education and how it causes students to contribute poor learning. The poet promotes learning outside the classroom, especially learning in nature which increases natural Creativity. As a poet of Romanticism, William Blake has shown the importance of Nature in the poem. The references such as summer, wind, blossoms, rain showers, birds and spring relate to the importance of Nature.