The Echoing Green Innocence Flashcards
“the sun does arise and make happy the skies”
The sun is a metaphor for the beginning of the day and, in terms of this poem, life’s cycle. It suggests happiness and an ideal. The poem doesn’t touch on the implications of rainy days, or the plight of those in large overcrowded cities, whose view of the sun was blocked.
no specific person is initially addressed as a part of the scenery. Rather, Blake concentrates on the sounds and scenes that nature and inanimate objects bring to give a background of merriment before people are added to the equation. Specifically, “the sun” is in “happy…skies” while “merry bells ring” and “birds” offer their own “cheerful” sounds. Before we ever come across a single person in this poem, we’re grounded in scenery that exemplifies happiness.
he lively qualities and happiness expressed are representations of the vivacity of youth where life is still as early and fresh as a “sun” that’s high in “happy…skies.” In this state of life, people can play, run, and enjoy what’s around them in a hands-on way.
“the merry bells ring to welcome the spring”
The Spring, like the day, is a metaphor for life’s cycle.
“sing louder around”
Even the animals sing praise. Blake uses the natural world as a metaphor for life in proper balance and close to God. He knew, however, that rural poverty was as grinding and damaging as urban poverty.
In particular, distinctions between commas and full stops are almost impossible to make. For example, to read in a comma after “Sing louder around” in the first stanza is a gesture prompted by the notion (which the syntax does seem to support) of a natural harmony between the singing of the birds and the ringing of the bells; to read in a full stop here would, conversely, argue for an ironic dislocation working against the apparent “flow” of the poem.
From the animals and inanimate objects to the joy and plant life, this scenery is treated like a thing of beauty, and the concept is so childish—playing in a field—that the reader can conclude that this group is made up of children.
“To the bell’s cheerful sound”
Church bells signify praise to God and were a means of summoning a rural community to prayer or gatherings.
“Old John…does laugh away without care”
Innocent days in the fields doesn’t bring about envy or regret for the old, but rather even more celebration. Now that their sporting days are done, they can sit around under trees and laugh, happy that they’ve passed the games and enjoyment to their children and that the cycle will continue.
Blake named his character ‘Old John’, the most common first name, to represent all old people
This situation seems worth detailing if only to point out the genuine insecurity of overdeterminate “editing” of the text. Punctuation is generally sparse in Songs of Innocence, perhaps for this very reason. Similarly, Hirsch’s point about the capitalization of one “Sun” but not the other (p. 40) may be related to its occurrence in the first line of the poem as the first noun, as much as (or as well as) to any symbolic purpose. The one viable semantic ambiguity that I can find, the “care” which Old John laughs away, in fact contributes to the idea of a benign relation between the generations. “Care” can be read as “supervision” (of others) or as “anxiety” (in the self-referring sense); but these options support rather than conflict with one another, since the “care” is anyway being superseded by laughter.
Under the weight of this deduction, the whole stanza shifts in meaning to something much deeper than just children playing.
he’s observing the merriment occurring in “the Ecchoing Green” even though he himself is not partaking. This can be seen as stepping into a different stage of life than the one in which the children exist as “Old John” likely can’t partake in those activities due to his age.
Who is he? Children are quick to name adults as old
even in this child’s description of the elders genuinely finding enjoyment, there’s the first hint of melancholy showing itself in the latter lines of the stanza. This sad twist arises through the reminiscing of the elder generation about the times when they were all “girls & boys” who experienced similar joys as the children’s. Though the observers remember those days and can still enjoy the children’s happiness, they will never again be able to experience that same free quality and activity as the children currently are.
t’s worth noting as well that the phrase, “girls & boys,” is evidence in favour of the idea that the people playing at “the Ecchoing Green” are children. If not, the recollection would lose sensibility in that no “girls & boys” would be present to spark the comparative comment - despite their wisdom they are unable to partake separating them from the children
context: children were generally healthier if they lived in the countryside creating inequality between children in cities such as London and those in the country regardless of whether they were poor
“sitting under the oak”
The oak is woven into English mythology and folklore. Here it represents strength and longevity, and shelter for the old people.
It is in this historical context that Blake could have been taking a second look at Albion’s guardian oak and its place in the center of the canonical village green—though this is not to say, of course, that “The Ecchoing Green” was ever intended simply to endorse such guardianship. For it is the image of the tree, and its modifications in the later versions of the first plate of the poem, which will provide the centerpiece to this account.
Old John and the aged have become “bogged down by the cares of the natural world” (p. 92), and memory affords only “vicarious respite from the inner darkness that is symbolized by the external shade of the tree”
They’re sedentary.
This leads into the second significance of “the oak” since the tree is a symbol of wisdom and steadfastness due to the time required to grow a tree large enough for a series of people to linger beneath. By providing such a representation of older superiority and strength, Blake is commenting on the wisdom and steadfastness to be had in the elderly group who has endured decades of life experiences.
“Round the laps of their mothers”
Families draw in close. This scene assumes that all the participants form families. The abused orphans of Blake’s poem Holy Thursday in Songs of Experience are nowhere to be seen.
For the younger generation, the onset of night represents a world of restriction and delusion
Looking at the text alone, for example, it is hard to be sure (as with “Laughing Song”) whether we are dealing with the simplicity of genuinely enacted innocence or with the facile delusions of a post-lapsarian speaker. There is little enough evidence for the latter, certainly; it would seem that the speaker must be one of the older children, since the “little ones” are described in the third person as wearying and putting an end to the sports in which the speaker also shares. And this would account for the peculiar tension between text and design whereby, with the exception of the hypothetical “Old John” himself, the figures around the tree do not seem to be the “old folk” defined by the text, but rather young mothers or nurses. To a child speaker, anyone of adult age might be classed among the old folk, especially if there is implied a hint of resentment at the imposition of authority. Moreover, the group under the tree could also be taken to illustrate the lines in stanza three which describe the children “Round the laps of their mothers,” once again implying that some children are ready for rest before others are.
“On the darkening green”
The poem moves into a darker, wearier mood, the reality for Old John. ‘Echoing’, is replaced by ‘darkening’. This suggests that death or an end is approaching. It implies that night is falling on a once vibrant and beautiful place. The ‘darkening’ may also be interpreted as a shadow, perhaps the huge looming factories as the Industrial Revolution developed. The end for ‘Old John’, and for all humanity, is the inevitable, ominous death.
The vivacity of childhood is draining, and as life passes, the “Green” is no longer “Ecchoing.” It’s “darkening,” like the light of life slipping away.
“sports have to end” becomes a statement of having to leave behind the merriment of childhood so much that “sport [will] no more be seen.” That last quote, too, affords this theory of passing into adulthood credibility since the narrator doesn’t mention a time when the play can recommence.
Maybe a reference to the children’s fun ending as they now have to go back to their home: Jeremy Bentham described how workhouses were essentially prison-like structures, designed principally ‘to grind rogues honest’.
But life in the workhouse varied enormously from parish to parish. Some workhouses were clean and comfortable havens for the poor. Many provided education, rudimentary health care and clean clothing. Others echoed to the sound of children playing, many of whom were placed in local businesses as apprentices, and most workhouses allowed visitors to come and go as they pleased. Other parishes – particularly in small rural communities – refused to build parish workhouses altogether owing to their substantial running costs. In many parishes ‘outdoor’ relief remained the chief means of assistance, administered to the poor on an individual basis
From 1780 and into the first quarter of the 19th century the poor relief system was under strain, with an increasing population and agricultural depressions. The enclosure movements dispossessed a generation from the land. Where common land was enclosed labourers lost a number of rural benefits such as grazing and fuel-gathering rights.
Iconology
refer to Blake’s Pastoral: A Genesis for the Echoing Green
Explanation
The Echoing Green” by William Blake, taken from his “Songs of Innocence”, is a beautiful short poem. Blake expresses the joy and innocence of the children’s early experience of life. “The Echoing Green” begins with a short description of a grassy field on a warm day in spring.
The sun shines brightly. The sky looks beautiful. Pleasant sounds of bells come from the nearby church. Song birds sing cheerfully. The sounds of bells and the songs of the birds merge into a beautiful melody worthy of the season of spring The old people of the village sit under the trees in the green while, on the green, young innocent children play their favourite games.
The children are happy and excited. They have not yet tasted the grief and disappointment that life will bring them in later years. They are young and healthy. The beautiful village green, the birds and the spring are all theirs.
The old people watch their children play happily on the green and think of the. nappy days of their childhood They, too, had played on the same green and had their share of joy and excitement which only young children can experience. Then the evening comes. Children grow tired. They return home to, rest in the laps of their sisters and mothers.
This poem describes a scene on a grassy field. During the day
it is filled with the noises of the children playing different
sports and games. When the sun sets, it becomes dark and lonely.
In these lines the poet says that an old man John with grey hair is sitting under the oak tree.
Some other old men and women are also sitting there. They are watching the children at play. They want to forget their worries by sharing the joys of the children. During the day it is filled with noises of the children. Old men and women watch the children at play.
They want to forget their worries by sharing the joys of the children. In these lines the joy of childhood is contrasted with the gloomy old age in the form of sunset when the grassy field becomes the “darkening green. The poet says that the children continue to play on the grassy field till late in the evening.
The sun begins to set and the tired children return to their homes. They have enjoyed themselves to their fill by playing different sports and games.
At home they have rest and sleep in the company of their brothers and sisters. They seem to be like birds who have returned to their nests. The echoing green looks deserted and gloomy in the darkness of the evening.
structure and versification
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 stanza, and can be read as a metaphor for human life. 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 six sentences with much repetition.
three-stanza poem that embodies an AABBCCDDEE rhyme scheme throughout its course to present a theme that’s as beautiful as it is melancholy. The beauty comes in the form of life enjoyment that’s showcased through the children playing in the fields as a character, “Old John,” watches, but the melancholy is subtly dealt with in the guise of an undertone of how fleeting youthful zeal can be. Furthermore, Blake uses that simple vision of play—or lack thereof—that’s occurring on “the Ecchoing Green” to symbolize the passing quality of life in general.
The loose anapestic rhythm of “The Ecchoing Green” creates a relaxed, playful effect. The lack of a predictable pattern grants the poem an organic, flexible shape
This flexibility can be viewed as a lack of discipline, the early attempts of a poet before he has learned the rules of its craft. Minot says that anapest “has a cheerful, lively beat….The anapest is not used as the basic meter in many poems, but it has real potential for work that is light and lyrical” (p.64-5). The “lack of poetic discipline” which creates this “lively, cheerful beat” proves completely harmonious with the nature of Innocence, which does not thrive on institution and unbreakable laws even in its rhythms. Anapestic rhythm is not as common as iambic verse and not as acceptable among “proper” poets.
The Ecchoing Green” follows a very loose pattern of anapestic dimeter. This small number of metric feet and the irregularity have a significant impact on the tone of the poem. Minot describes dimeter as “rare and usually comic” (68), and it is difficult not to agree somewhat with this judgement. The rhythm, no doubt, further gives the poem the appearance of being generated by an immature poet. A “skilled” poet would recognize that the dimeter tends to make the poem’s tone very light and sugary, bordering on the ridiculous. A harsh reader might wonder if Blake even bothered to revise it, merely writing it in a fit of unguided inspiration. Certainly, the meter creates the illusion of extemporaneity or poetic immaturity.
“The Ecchoing Green,” the light-hearted song of Innocence, is arranged in rhyming couplets:
This pattern was popular in the eighteenth century,
Admittedly, some of the rhymes in “The Ecchoing Green” fall short of being subtle. The pairing of “arise” with “skies,” “ring” with “Spring,” and “hair” with “care” are just a few of the rhymes which are forced. These absurdly-paired words further contribute to the idea that Innocence defies the institutions which seek to control poetic expression.
Without such evidence of poetic skill such as that found in The Songs of Experience and Blake’s other works, it might be tempting for a reader to dismiss these childish rhymes as signs of poetic weakness.
Some of the rhymes in “The Ecchoing Green” lack this precision, sometimes stretching a rhyme to the point of forcing it or resorting to near-rhyme rather than rearranging the lines in search of a more effective word pair.
Oftentimes, the words which a poet uses to express his or her ideas or feels become casualties of cursory reading. The reader examines a work and identifies a possible method of analysis, but occassionally forgets that words often possess multiple meanings or underlying conotations which are difficult to detect under the scrutiny of a single examination. The essentially vague character can lead to misunderstanding, possibly even embarrassment, for the writer who has not recognized the characters of the words he or she is using, but it can become a powerful tool in the hands of a talented and experienced poet who employs a word with two very different meanings to generate a specific effect.
When Blake chose his words for “The Ecchoing Green” and “London,” then, he did so with an understanding of the words he used. As a result, the spirit of Innocence emerges, not only from the simple language of “The Ecchoing Green,” but also from the straightforwardness of the words which it employs, leaving little vagueness of meaning. This reflects the world of Innocence which simply does not trouble its inhabitants with complicated puzzles or quests for meaning.
Symbolism of play in green lands
Blake links the play of the children to the coming of spring to emphasise the relationship between the two. Children, in these poems, are fresh and untouched by experience; they share the freedom and naturalness of the birds. Play is also associated with youth. It reminds the elders of their own youth, but there is a sense that it does not survive the ending of the day / the ending of childhood.
Village greens were places of play and freedom. They represented the importance of play, and therefore of imagination, in human life
Village greens were not owned by anyone but were common land. They therefore represented another kind of freedom, freedom from the rule or demands of a landowner or authority figure. They were the opposite of ‘chartered’ towns which were under the authority of officials.
