"The Echoing Green"

The Echoing Green is a poem by William Blake published in Songs of Innocence in 1789.

The poem follows the structure of a day— 'the sun does arise' in the beginning of the first verse, and 'the sun does descend' in the middle of the third verse. The poem is the contrast of innocence and experience, but also the contrast between perception of joys and sorrows. What is happening on the Green will happen again, shown by the 'old folk' who watch the children and reminisce about their own childhood on the Green. The whole poem is written in 6 sentences with much repetition. The poem could also be attributed to the life of a person— birth, life, death.

Poem text

The Sun does arise,

And make happy the skies;

The merry bell rings

To welcome the Spring;

The skylark and thrush,

The bird of the bush,

Sings lounder around

To the bell's chearful sound,

While our sports shall be seen

On the Echoing Green.

Old John, with white hair,

Does laugh away care,

Sitting under the oak,

Among the old folk.

They laugh at our play,

And soon they all say:

``Such, such were the joys

When we all, girls & boys,

In our youth time were seen"

On the Echoing Green.

Till the little ones, weary,

No more can be merry;

The sun does descend,

And our sports have on end.

Round the laps of their mothers

Many sisters and brothers,

Like birds in their nest,

Are ready for rest,

And sports no more seen

On the darkening Green

References

• Oxford Student Study Guide, 'William Blake'.

External links

• "The Echoing Green" on Wikisource.

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