[BeckySparrow]

Infant Sorrow
disturbing image, ominous, bleak - sorrow = heavy sounding.
rhyme scheme like a childlike song
struggling against life
list of three - helpless, naked, piping - vulnerable
dangerous world/fiend - evil presence? world itself
giving in/giving up - bound and weary - acceptance? futility?
verbs - groaned, wept, leapt, struggling, striving - images of suffering
rejects the father
realism about giving birth, or being upset? powerful exclamation.
child's perspective
piping - creating a sound
baby compares itself to a devil
battle and conflict between baby and parents, disharmony
longer lines, more complex metre for more complex issues, more crafted rhyme

Infant Joy
mother = happy, positive and nurturing
short lines, simple repetitive structures, uncomplicated end with refrain
joy - pure happiness, song like, musical
speech marks - persona, spoken voice, other isnt. could be mother?
no name, no identity, no individuality
questioning, giving ideas
"i happy am" - emotion is the name
abstract nouns used, lack of concretes
befall thee - religious lexis? befall usually used in a negative sense
pretty joy! exclamations for volume but lost at end, gets quieter
at end gets quicker
repetition, uses anaphora
lots of sibilance - smile, singing, sweet - all linked, paraller structures.
lullaby and celebration

Other ideas on childhood

Ideals - Echoing Green
play, rural environment
joyful
adults are protective.

Nurse's Song
image of childhood
freedome
persistance - quite a modern idea. pushing boundaries.
sense of unity between nature and man
nurse is protective role but more active than in Echoing Green
direct speech from children - they have an opinion
nurse is persuaded by argument - suns light is also protective
nature is their reasoning
happy when children are happy
4 stanzas - perfect simplicity of childhood.

Nurse's Song (Exp)
ideas about words having different meanings
no direct speech from the children - not allowed an opinion
oppressive not protective
revenge for lost youth?
seems colder and wintry - whisperings
in innocence - man and nature are reciprocal but here it is wasted
repetition and title - same nurse?
different world view - no value in play
selfish? other nurse is happy for the children
adult oppression of children in society - completely inverts whole image of the nurse, changed meaning.

A cradle song
long poem - lullaby connotations
sibilance - soothing? hushing, whispering. double meanings
good for AO3 points - repetition, sibilance, song like. also AO5 religious contexts.

The schoolboy
Blake was home schooled and virtually self taught
schools - chanting, learning for regurgitation not understanding
his parents didnt want that for him - innocence
however he technically didnt experience the schooling that he criticises here
Blake sees children as birds - natural and free
He's not criticising the learning - just the institution
restriction of children's ability to imagine and play.