Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience)
Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience) Lyrics
And whisperings are in the dale,
The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,
My face turns green and pale.
Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,
And the dews of night arise;
Your spring and your day are wasted in play,
And your winter and night in disguise.
About
This brief but rather chilling poem was first published in 1794 and was one of the series of poems in Songs of Experience. They explore the harsh realities of late 18th and early 19th Century life during the time of King George III, known — ironically given the terrible social conditions of the time — as the Romantic Era. Each poem in the “Songs of Experience” category is matched by an idealistic portrayal in Songs of Innocence. The contrast is Blake’s method of social protest.
In this poem the Nurse, a mirror image of the gentle, kind Nurse in Songs of Innocence, has a harsher view of play and sees the freedom that the children enjoy as wasteful. There is a sense of yearning in this woman for, perhaps, better times in her childhood. Her response is jealousy.
Structure
The poem comprises two quatrains, that is, four-lined stanzas. The metrical rhythm is broadly anapaests, that is, each metrical foot is made up of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. This gives an appropriately jaunty feel. There is a regular ABCB rhyme scheme throughout in both stanzas.
Language
The voice is that of the Nurse, and her memories of her own childhood. Her nature is jealous. simplicity of the language masks a serious subject, that of the doubtful quality of care that many children endured in Blake’s time. The Nurse is more concerned with the memories of her own childhood than selfless nurturing.
There are sinister undertones, for example, the ‘whispering’ in the ‘dale’ could be hints that all will not be well with the children as they grow.
Q&A
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- Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience)