Can any of you take the time to look over my essay, I really appreciate it.


In the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience William Blake contrasts what it means to be innocent against experienced. It is typical for Blake to use innocence or experience as the central theme, however, in the “Nurse’s Song”, located in the Songs of Innocence, he seems to deviate from the norm by using both. I used the “Nurse’s Song” as the foundation for my poem because I like how Blake uses both the qualities of innocence and experience. I also like how Blake shakes things up a bit by representing the children, who society commonly labels as innocent, as the experienced ones and the adult, who society commonly labels as experienced, as innocent. The symbolism that was used throughout the poem also inspired me to base my poem around the “Nurse’s Song”.
The “Nurse’s Song” is most commonly interpreted as being a poem about innocence. In the first stanza Blake gives off the impression that the poems central theme is innocence. “When the voices of children are heard on the green and laughing is heard on the hill, my heart is at rest within my breast and every thing else is still.” The children are introduced and depicted as carefree, the only worry they seem to have is what time they will have to come inside. “My heart is at rest within my breast and every thing else is still.” It then becomes apparent that the nurse is equally innocent. She is watching the children playing on the hill which invokes childhood memories of her own. She has no worries as she watches the children play.
In the second stanza the nurse calls out for her children to come home. The sun has set for the evening and the nurse wants the children to come inside for the evening. The innocence theme continues as the nurse is calling the children in before its gets dark outside and tells them they can resume their play when the sun rises the next day.
The theme of innocence starts to shift to experience in the third stanza. “No no let us play, for it is yet day and we cannot go to sleep.” The children do not listen to their superior and head inside; rather they are trying to weasel some more time to play. It appears that the children are not as innocent as they initially appeared to be and look experienced instead.
Will the nurse stand behind her decision or calling the children inside or will she give into them? “Well well go & play till the light fades away and then go home to bed.” The nurse gives into the children and lets them stay out longer. There is a transition from the beginning of the poem where it initially seemed like both the children and nurse was innocent. Surprisingly, the children hoodwink their caretaker for some more time.
I also like how Blake represented the children as experienced and the nurse as innocent. It is typical to see children represented as innocent and adults as experienced, but Blake diverges from common thought. This makes his poems that much more special.
The evasive symbolism that Blake uses through the “Nurse’s Tale” is another reason I chose to base my poem around it. He creates symbolism around the children being experienced and the nurse being innocent. The poem starts off with the children and nurse appearing to be innocent and the sun serves as their symbol, the symbol of youth. As the sun begins to set the children decide they want to stay outside longer and play some more. The darkness now serves as their symbol, the symbol of experience. The transition of day to night is parallel with the transition of the children being innocent and then experienced.

The Nurse’s Song
When the voices of children are heard on the green
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast
And every thing else is still

Then come home my children, the sun is gone down
And the dews of night arise
Come come leave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies

No no let us play, for it is yet day
And we cannot go to sleep
Besides in the sky, the little birds fly
And the hills are all cover'd with sheep

Well well go & play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh'd
And all the hills ecchoed


The Deep End
When the sounds the children make from splashing in the pool
Are echoed to all of the steel framed lawn chairs;
I recall the days when I used to swim and play,
No worries at all, my mind was bare.

“Kristin and Ryan you are swimming too far away,
You are drifting to the deep end, far out of sight;
Swim back to where I can see you both
What in the deep end gives you so much delight?”

“But mommy that is where all of our friends play
And there is much more room to swim down there;
We promise that we will be safe and look out for each other
Just look at all of the others splashing water in the air!”

“Okay, I guess so, but only if you stay in sight
Will you be allowed to swim with your so-called delight.”
And the children went back to go play with their friends
As they swam back under the bright sunlight.

I incorporated both innocence and experience in my poem by identifying the children with experience and the parent with innocence. The poem starts off with the mother of the children recalling some of her childhood memories of swimming. The children are swimming in the deep end and the mother tries calling them back. “Kristin and Ryan you are swimming too far away, you are drifting to the deep end, far out of sight.” Again, the initial thought is that both the mother and children are innocent. The children are just having fun with their friends and the mother is watching them. This changes however when the children do not listen to their mother’s command to swim back to the shallow end. The children are experienced as they try to con their mother in letting them swim in the deep end. The mother agrees and shows that she is innocent by allowing her children to sucker her.
I also included a lot of symbolism into my poem. In the “Nurse’s Song” the symbol for innocence is the light, while the symbol for experience is darkness. I used the shallow water as the symbol for innocence in my poem, while the deep end was to symbolize experience. It initially appears that the children swimming in the deep end is the symbol for innocence, but it is soon clear that the deep end is the sign for experience after the children dupe their mother into letting them swim in the deep end. I also tried to be ironic by tying in the sunlight with the experienced children, which was used in Blake’s poem to represent innocence. “And the children went back to go play with their friends as they swam back under the bright sunlight.”
I felt that many of Blake’s works from the Songs of Innocence and Experience were intriguing, but something drew me to the Nurse’s Song. I could draw comparisons to my innocent life as a child and that of the older, experienced adults, which is what I tried basing my poem around.