William Blake's The Echoing Green

William Blake's The Echoing Green

The poem ‘The Echoing Green’ is written by William Blake. It is taken from SONGS OF INNOCENCE. It is divine voice of childhood unchallenged by the test and doubts of later years. Blake expresses in simple and lovely diction the happiness and innocence of a child’s first thoughts about. This is a pictorial poem. ‘The Echoing Green’ is a poem about a grassy field on a warm morning in late spring. The poet gives a very beautiful description of a dawn and morning of spring. The spring represents the life. Morning is the beginning of life and the dark evening is the end. This poem is a blend of child like innocence and grayness of later years. It is symbolic and draws a contrast between youth and old age. Blake has expressed broad meaning of the playground. The children are carefree and they are not surrounded by any kind of worries because worries are associated with old age and pleasures with childhood. The children are busy in games.

They are showing vibrant attitude and display high energy in their games. They are laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Their voices echo in the field. They travel on the wings of leisurely fancy and float far into the realm of calm and sweet childhood joy; unaware of the pains and cutting realization they are going to encounter as the years fall in on them.

The nature also seems to join in with their joy as the sun shines with sheer brilliance over the playing children. The azure sky also seems to be smiling at the joy of these innocent children. The whole atmosphere further seems drunk with high-spirited fervor; the church bells add their sonorous chimes to this festive atmosphere. The poet symbolizes the innocence and delicacy of children with the...

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...evening shadows creep on the green announcing the arrival of night-death. The green takes on an unpleasant and sordid look. The game ends! So does the life. The children return to their homes to rest. The home symbolizes the grave and the rest is the eternal rest.

Thus the poem is a splendid pen picture of joys of child hood and their eventual fading away into eternity. Blake has further laid stress on the potent entity called ‘change’. The poet has through useful symbol of oak tree, old people, evening etc has discussed the mechanics, which act as a fulcrum in moving the paddles of life. The poet has showed superb mastery as he changes the mood of the poem along with the progression of the poem. The poem is in fact a very fine presentation of the philosophy of life resting on the hinges of the magnificent time.

‘And sport no more seen On the darkening green.’