Blake uses an image of children sitting about their mother’s knee, he writes,
‘Round the laps of their mothers
Many sisters and brothers.’
This image of children around their mother’s knee is an image of security and safety. The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed. The poem keeps the positive tone that was established at the start.
The ‘Nurses Song,’ from innocence reiterates this idea of a happy childhood. Straight away Blake sets the positive tone of the poem, with an image of happiness.
‘And laughing is heard on the hill,’
This image of happiness establishes the tone, and, also gives the impression that the children in the poem aren’t oppressed by adults. When the nurse calls the children back from playing on the hill she refers to them as ‘my children.’ This is quite a loving and affectionate phrase which doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed.
This is further confirmed when the children say, ‘No, no let us play, for it is yet day,’ and the nurse replies ‘Well, well go and play.’ Again this shows that the nurse in kind giving and tender, and as she has let the children have what they wanted, which was to go and play, doesn’t suggest that she is an oppressive adult. The fact that the children don’t want to come in from play could show that the children want to delay the troubles and responsibility of old age by playing for longer. The significance of the nurse letting them play shows that she understands that they must be able to have fun and be free from responsibility before it is too late, this doesn’t suggest that Blake feels that children are oppressed.
The two poems that I have examined so far haven’t displayed any evidence for the view that Blake feels that children are oppressed. ‘Nurses Song,’ and ‘The Echoing Green,’ were both taken from innocence, the second ‘Nurses Song,’ is taken from experience and the message and tone of the poem is much more sinister.
As I have mentioned the tone of the poem is much more sinister. The use of the word ‘whisperings,’ shows an air of secrecy in the children which wasn’t present in the ‘Nurses song,’ form innocence. The words of the nurse for the song in experience show that she is envious of the children: she says,
‘The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,
My face turns green and pale.’
Her ‘green,’ face is a classic sign of jealousy, and that the memories of her childhood come back to her shows that she is no longer a child and is jealous because of this. Or that she is jealous of the children because their childhood is better than hers was, and she is bitter because of this. Not only does this give the poem an ominous tone but it makes the message of the ‘Nurses Song,’ in innocence much more potent. That you should enjoy, and let your children enjoy their childhoods, because when you are older the world is much tougher so you should enjoy your innocence whilst you have it.
Blake uses this phrase in both the Nurses songs:
‘Then come home my children, the sun has gone down,
And the dews of the night arise.’
This meaning and tone of this phrase is different between the two nurse’s songs. In the song from experience the ‘my children,’ now takes on a more possessive meaning, that the children are hers, to use as she pleases, where in innocence it has an affectionate meaning. The possessive nature of the phrase in experience suggests that the children are oppressed, and do what the nurse commands. The children in the song from experience certainly don’t get the freedom that the children get in innocence, which is made clear when the nurse says,
‘Your spring and your day are wasted I play.’
Clearly this phrase illustrates the fact that the Nurse feels that play is a waste of time. This is maybe because she feels that the hardship of life is too important to be ignored, and you should prepare yourself for it. Blake then is forwarding two different ideologies in the three poems that I have examined. One being that you should enjoy your childhood whilst you can because you cannot retrieve it once you are older and have the hardships and responsibility of life on your back. And the second is that you should prepare yourself for the hardships of life in your childhood because life is about the survival of the fittest.
The nurse certainly has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed.
I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed. But the ‘Nurses Song,’ form experience shows the reality of life: that it is hard, and people, like the nurse in the song aren’t happy and full of joy, like the memories of the old people in ‘The Echoing Green,’ and therefore, Blake’s poetry confirms the view that children are oppressed by adults.
