bow dous William Blake campane
stages of life to the seasons in the
portry
The School Boy
Answers
Answer:The poem begins with the young narrator speaking on his ideal morning. He wakes and hears the birds and the “distant huntsman” blowing his “horn.” The second stanza jumps to the mornings he despairs of in which he is forced to leave his peaceful sanctuary and go to school.
The next two stanzas are infused with melodrama and are meant to elicit sympathy with the reader. The boy describes his miserable days at school and how, like a trapped bird that cannot sing, he should not be required to learn in restraints.
The speaker turns to plead with his parents. He tells them that if this continues his “buds” are going to be “nipped,” his joy ripped from him, and the loss of his childhood will result in unpreparedness for life. He will not be able to last through the real trials of life, or winters as he describes them.
Themes in The Schoolboy
Blake makes use of some interesting and important themes in ‘The Schoolboy’. He explores childhood and youth, as well as themes of education, nature, and freedom in this piece. His main character and speaker, the schoolboy, spends the poem describing the difference between freedom in the natural world and the cruel restrictions of formal education.