Nurse's Song By William Blake

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 everything 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 and play till the light fades away,

And then go home to bed.’

The little ones leapèd and shoutèd and laugh’d

And all the hills echoèd.

Nurse's Song~

Dare to analyse it:

The author uses rhyme at the second and last line to enhance the effectiveness on the reader when reading the poem. The poet uses “hill” “still” in every last word of the sentence. Also, the theme of the poem is the children’s innocent joy and happiness. The sounds of the children match with a busy world of ‘sheep’ and ‘birds’. They think of themselves as part of nature, and cannot bear the thought of leaving their play while birds and sheep still moving lively in the sky and on the hills, for the children share the innocence and unselfconscious naturalness of these animals. They also approach the world with a jolly cheerfulness, concentrating not on the approaching night but on the last moment of day that surely can be last out of the evening.

The description of “Well, well , go and play till the light fades away, and then go home to bed” and “Besides, in the sky the little birds fly, and the hills are all cover’d with sheep” shows that the children happiness inspires the nurse a feeling of peace and calm, and their desire to lengthen their own enjoyment is one she readily indulges. She is a kind of innocent, guardian existence who is not really close with the children and supports them rather than overshadows their innocence and kept them in an enclose area. She is compared with the nature. Her tranquility echoes with the evening’s natural calmness, and both seem to envelop the carefree children in a affectionate protection.