Write the critical appreciation of the poem entitled Nurse's Song.

Write the critical appreciation of the poem entitled Nurse’s Song.

Ans.

Introduction

The poem entitled Nurse’s Song in an extract from Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. Thoughts of ‘Innocence’ and ‘Experience’ often preoccupied Blake, as is evident from the title of the volume of poetry. This poem contains something of both. It has been suggested that Nurse’s Song places carefree childhood imagination in opposition to pointless and restrictive adult interference. The poem depicts how childlike innocence is replaced by destructive civilising forces. It is also possible to consider Nature as a kind old Nurse in the poem. Undoubtedly it is truly a song of innocence. Children are innocent, and the Nurse is innocent too. The poet seems heartily to approve of the Nurse as well as children. The scene of the poem features a group of children playing outside in the hills, while their nurse listens to them in contentment. As twilight begins to fall, she gently urges them to leave off play and retire to the house for the night. They ask to play on till bedtime, for as long as the light lasts. The Nurse becomes submissive to their pleas, and the children shout and laugh with joy.

Development of Thought

In the poem, some stanzas show the nurse’s concern for the children under her care while some show the children’s desire to remain away, playing outside, beyond the Nurse’s control. The first of these stanzas is about the nurse’s preoccupation with, and anxiety for, the children who are playing outside. The second stanza depicts the Nurse’s plea to the children to return from play, as the sun is setting and the harmful cold is approaching. The third stanza shows the typical reaction of children who refuse to return home in a hurry. They say that the sun is still visible, the little birds are still in the sky, and the sheep are yet to return; so they should also be allowed to play for longer. The final stanza shows the kind Nurse acceding to their demand, but with the request that they return as soon as the sun sets. This makes the children happy, and they shout and rejoice with childlike delight.

Imagery and Symbolism

The green: Blake’s symbolic village nas three, inter-linked aspects.

(i) The colour green is associated with growth, fertility and spring.

(ii) Village greens were places of the play and freedom. They represent the importance of play and, therefore, of imagination in human life.

(iii) Village greens were not owned by anyone.

Fading light: Unlike The Echoing Green, the darkness appears much earlier in Nurse’s Song. The children focus only on making the most of the daylight. However, the Nurse is aware of the threat that lurks in darkness (“the dews of night arise’ seems unhealthy) and the need to be responsible in terms of the day to come. That the children desire to play as the light fades could symbolise their developing maturity and fading innocence.

Form and Style: Nurse’s Song is a lyrical poem which seems simple, though it contains deep thoughts. The poem is four stanzas long, twice the length of its counterpart in Songs of Experience. Each stanza is an abcb quatrain. Blake often uses the abcb pattern in Songs of Innocence to reflect the tone of an adult speaker, in contrast to the aabb pattern usually associated with children and pure innocents. The first stanza sets the scene, and the remainder of the poem is structure in a call-and-response format, with the Nurse first calling the children in, then the children responding with their counter argument, and finally the Nurse accepting the children’s terms and letting them play longer.