The Schoolboy - William Blake

Question 1

Structure

Answer 1

six quintets
ABABB rhyme scheme

Question 2

What are some of the themes discussed in this poem?

Answer 2

Childhood, education, power, natural world

Question 3

‘I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,’

Answer 3

‘I love’ - upbeat tone used to create sense of joy and emphasise his dislike for school shown later on
‘summer morn’ - seasons used to reflect someone’s stage in life/happiness, summer relfects ripening/joy
‘when’ - adverbial rest of line is an adverbial phrase
‘tree’ - concrete noun, denotes tangible that have positive connotations of nature/organic things
‘hunstman’ - predator, something luring, threatening (education)
‘horn’ - denotes a warning object used in the past to present a threat, reflects perhaps a warning from summer that with its end comes the winter and education

Question 4

‘And the skylark sings with me.
Oh! what sweet company.’

Answer 4

‘skylark’ - bird associated with freedom to reflect the freedom he has when not in education/weighed down by his heavy dislike of school
‘Oh!’ - exclamatory interjection, highlights positive emotional state and emanates his love for nature and for no restrictions

Question 5

‘But to go to school on a summer morn,
Oh! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay’

Answer 5

‘But’ - suggests a change, we begin getting the negative undercurrent from Blake
‘Oh!’ - exclamatory interjection highlights his negative emotional state, parallelism between first and second to stanza to accentuate this change in scenery (school) has on Blake
‘cruel eye outworn’ - oppression, teachers surveying students, no control over their decisions
‘little ones’ - sense of vulnerability, juxtaposition of ‘cruel’ and ‘little’ suggests harshness of teachers, monsters
‘sighing and dismay’ - hearty loathing towards school from Blake shown

Question 6

‘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,’

Answer 6

‘drooping’ and ‘anxious’- lack of enthusiasm , highlights tiresomeness of school and the joy it takes away from school-children, primarly school children such as Blake who dislike school so
‘spend’ - to give away, reluctantly losing his time that he could use to do something more worthwhile
‘Nor’ - foregrounded coordinated conjunctions accentuates negativity
‘Nor in my book can I take delight’ - no freedom, ability to be free of school’s oppressive formalities
‘learning’s bower’ - metaphor, bower denotes shade, learning takes away the light, therefore connotes lack of happiness, depressive moods.

Question 7

‘Sit in a cage and sing?
…
Oh! father and mother! if buds are nipped,
And blossoms blown away,’

Answer 7

‘cage’ - metaphor for a lack of escape, could be related also to how educated forces you to be a pawn in the world, have to follow the society’s rules and work
‘sing’ - verb, acts like school wants them to, expects the, to be happy ad content in oppressive situations
‘buds are nipped’ - can’t grow, stunted, metaphor for constriction/restriction
‘blossoms blown away’ - plosives, education takes away their youth and forces them to age, melding their young minds.

Question 8

‘Or the summer’s fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

Answer 8

‘Or’ - anaphora, all these negative things happen as a result of education
‘blasts’ - harshness, under attack from school and education
‘winter’ - coldness, natural beauty hidden, freedom is hidden away by school, hibernating till the summer returns and school is over.