The Schoolboy Poem by William Blake

The Schoolboy

Rating: 2.9


I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! what sweet company!

But to go to school on a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.

Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour,
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning's bower,
Worn thro' with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?

O! father and mother, if buds are nipped
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care's dismay,

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer's fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

The Schoolboy
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
* Sunprincess * 30 December 2015

.....great teachers are wonderful guides in the lessons of life ★

4 7 Reply
Douglas Scotney 25 September 2015

scary questions, William.

6 2 Reply
Dedan Onyango 11 July 2015

Wonderful! Good use of rhetorical questions that aids one to seek for the message thanks for sharing.

7 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 17 February 2015

Nice piece of work. Thanks for sharing this poem with us. E.K.L.

3 2 Reply
Hashim Alsheikh 17 November 2021

boring I was forced to read this

0 0 Reply
Solomon Senxer 14 September 2019

But to go to school on a summer morn, O! it drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay oh! That was me too!

2 2 Reply
hihihi 18 December 2018

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1 2 Reply
E.mai Gbono 15 November 2018

This story give me freedom

0 0 Reply
Indira Renganathan 30 November 2016

William Blake reflects a school boy's mental state under compulsion in his poem...wonderful

2 2 Reply
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