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THE SCHOOL BOY

The poem “The School Boy” was published in 1789 by William Blake, a
seminal figure in the history of poetry and visual arts of the Romantic age. It was
written in the pastoral tradition and focuses on the downsides of formal learning.
The poem was originally published in “Songs of Innocence (1789)” and was later
included in “Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794)”. The poem could be
interpreted as a critique of human societal restrictions on the nature-loving human
spirit. Blake suggests that the educational system of his day destroys the joyful
innocence of youth; Blake himself was largely self-educated and did not endure the
drudgery of the classroom as a child. Yet the poet wishes his readers to see the
difference between the freedom of imagination offered by close contact with nature,
and the repression of the soul caused by formal education system. The poem “The
School Boy” is a short poem separated into six stanzas of five lines, called quintets.
Each stanza follows the rhyme scheme of ABABB with some slight variations. The
poem is set in a first person narrative style, ie the poem is told from the perspective
of a young boy, possibly Blake himself.

I LOVE TO RISE IN SUMMER MORN,

WHEN THE BIRDS SING ON EVERY TREE;

THE DISTANT HUNTSMAN WINDS HIS HORN,

AND THE SKYLARK SINGS WITH ME:

O WHAT SWEET COMPANY!

In the first stanza, Blake introduces the narrator to the readers; a young boy who
feels trapped in the monotonous school life which was imposed upon him. The
narrator seems to be precocious as he speaks with the conscience of an older man.
The young narrator speaks about the things that he loves in the first stanza. He loves
“to rise in a summer morn” and hear the birds singing “on every tree”. He listens to
the sound of horn blared by the “huntsman” from somewhere far away and to the
song of skylark that appears to be singing with him. The poet had cleverly adopted
auditory images in the first stanza to delineate summer morning as vivid as the boy
sees. The first quintet gives us a clear picture of the young boy’s taste towards nature.

BUT TO GO TO SCHOOL IN SUMMER MORN,

O IT DRIVES ALL JOY AWAY!

UNDER A CRUEL EYE OUTWORN,

THE LITTLE ONES SPEND THE DAY

IN SIGHING AND DISMAY.

The second stanza seems to be contradicting the first as it presents the exact
opposite things that “drive all joy away!”. It is a matter of utmost disappointment for
the speaker to attend school in a sweet summer morning where actually he wishes to
enjoy the mirth of summer. He is tired and even puzzled under the strict supervision
of his finicky teacher. The phrase “cruel eye outworn” either refers to the intense
gaze of the teacher or to the drowsiness of the students. The boy bemoans his plight
of being sent to the school unwillingly whereas he could have spent his summer days
enjoying. The boy shares how his classmates and he manage to put up with the
lectures “in sighing and dismay”.

AH THEN AT TIMES I DROOPING SIT,

AND SPEND MANY AN ANXIOUS HOUR;

NOR IN MY BOOK CAN I TAKE DELIGHT,

NOR SIT IN LEARNING’S BOWER,

WORN THROUGH WITH THE DREARY SHOWER.

The boy goes on to express his weariness in the third quintet. Being helpless,
the child could find no other way but to sit in the class drooping all along. The boy
says that he neither could take delight in his books nor could sit in “learning’s
bower”. The expression “learning’s bower” could be “the educational institutions”
and “dreary shower” points to “the monotonous lectures”.

HOW CAN THE BIRD THAT IS BORN FOR JOY

SIT IN CAGE IN SING?

HOW CAN A CHILD, WHEN FEARS ANNOY,

BUT DROOP HIS TENDER WING,

AND FORGET HIS YOUTHFUL SPRING!

The boy turns, all of a sudden, philosophical and tries to justify his dislike
towards schools. In the fourth stanza, comparing himself to a bird, and the school to
a cage, he asks that how a bird that was born for joy could sit in a cage and sing. He
now turns to begging on the behalf of other children. He hints that it is almost
impossible for a child to not forget his “youthful spring” when he/she is confronted
by fear. The fourth stanza is characterized by the use rhetorical questions to convey
the boy’s dilemma. He knows that he was made to learn, read, and write, but he
cannot do so in school, a place he considers equal to a cage. These children, just like
he is, are missing out the joys of being a child.

O FATHER AND MOTHER IF BUDS ARE NIPPED,

AND BLOSSOMS BLOWN AWAY;

AND IF THE TENDER PLANTS ARE STRIPPED

OF THEIR JOY IN THE SPRINGING DAY,

BY SORROW AND CARE’S DISMAY,-

In the fifth quintet of the poem the speaker turns to address his parents as he
sees them as the ones that could possibly change his situation, if only he can
convince them to see things his way. In this stanza he presents them with the reasons
why they should not force him to go to school. He speaks about his own childhood
joys as being “buds” that are being “nipped” and “blossoms” that are blowing away.
His happiness is delicate like the “tender plants” and he should not have to be
subjected to the “sorrow and care’s dismay” at his young age. If misery withers the
tender plants the beautiful buds and the new born buds, summer can never be joyful.

HOW SHALL THE SUMMER ARISE IN JOY

OR THE SUMMER FRUITS APPEAR?

OR HOW SHALL WE GATHER WHAT GRIEFS DESTROY,

OR BLESS THE MELLOWING YEAR,

WHEN THE BLASTS OF WINTER APPEAR?

If all of the things stated in the fifth stanza happen, if he is indeed stripped of
his joy and given sorrow in return, then how can his parents expect the appearance
of “fruit in the summer”. The child enquires his parents as to how they can win back
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what grieve has destroyed. If the plants are withered due to the canker of grief, no
fruit will be there in the season of autumn (mellowing year) and this implies that if
childhood pleasures and joys are censored and truncated, the adult life will be utterly
dry and unproductive.

Being a romantic poet, William Blake has conveyed his intimacy towards
nature with affluent reference to nature. “The bird in the cage”, “buds”, “blossoms”
and “tender plants” are some examples. He has even equated the seasons of nature
to the phases of man metaphorically (seasons- Spring, Summer and Winter to
Childhood, Youth and Old age respectively). The poet could bring an unique charm
to the poem by enriching it with imagery, metaphors and rhetoric.

The poet feels that the formal education imposes many restrictions on the
child’s movement and enjoyment in the school. The children are forced to sit in one
place throughout the day and learn one subject after another without any
entertainment or opportunity for joy in between. The poet is of the opinion that such
a schooling does not really allow any child to learn well. No child benefits from such
regimented learning either in its youth or later age. Small children who are supposed
to be running around, laughing and playing, do not benefit from a school routine
which expects them to sit in one place under the stern gaze of the teacher. It robs
them of all the joy of learning and instead, fills their minds with anxiety and fear,
thus crippling them emotionally for the rest of their life. Children are not able to
learn much under such harsh conditions, and even the little that they manage to learn,
will not enable them to find happiness in later life. But the poet is definitely not
arguing against education. Instead, he is pointing out that education under strict
regimentation will not benefit any child. He makes a case for education to become
less boring and more joyful, if it has to benefit the child in his later years too. In
Blake’s work, parents are often perceived as inhibiting and repressing their children.
Their own fears and shame are communicated to the next generation through the
parental desire to ‘protect’ children from their desires. According to Blake, parents
misuse ‘care’ to repress children, rather than setting the children free by rejoicing in,
and safeguarding, their capacity for play and imagination.