Nurse's Song by William Blake

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Compare and contrast the two versions of “Nurse’s Song”, showing how Blake illustrates the concepts of Innocence and Experience

The Blakean concept of “Innocence” is focused on purity, vulnerability, trust and harmony – often illuminated through the use of children. For “Experience” the crux is on remorse, regrets and the general loss of innocence. In the two versions of “Nurse’s Song” children are used to bring out both the innocent and experienced side of the nurse.

In the “Innocence” version of the poem, a repeated word pattern is used. It is reminiscent of children’s chants and nursery rhymes because of the buoyant, song-like rhythm. “Come, come leave off play”, “No, no let us play”, “Well, well go and play”. This emphasises the childlike, infantile tone of the poem bringing out the innocent, simplistic nature. It also shines a juvenile light on the nurse, which to a reader in an experienced state of mind, gives off a forced, unrealistic innocence.

The use of sound in the “Innocence” version of “Nurse’s Song” is very apparent. It relates to the sounds made by the children, heard by the nurse; “laughing is heard on the hill,” this paints a pleasant picture, an unmistakeably happy image for the reader. It puts the rest of the poem into an idyllic, dreamlike context, giving a slightly surreal edge to the verses that follow. The final line “And all the hills ecchoed”, could be seen as a use of pathetic fallacy in that the children are laughing and shouting, and the hills ‘echo’ them – everything in this idealistic world is content and perfect, a utopia of purity, trust and openness.

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“The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d”, this list is presented in a puerile fashion, further illustrating the concept of innocence in the nurse herself. By using “&” instead of a comma, it makes the reader feel as if the nurse has a childlike perspective on the scene, as her narration uses basic, one-dimensional lexis giving an unsophisticated and uncomplicated view of the world.

The harmonious relationship between the children and the nurse makes her seem straightforward and pure, and also inexperienced in her trust in the children. When the children refuse her request to go home to ...

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