1st PUC English Notes | The School Boy
2. The School Boy
-William Blake
Glossary:
Nostalgia :
longing for a happier or better time in the past .
Term coined
by Johannes Hofer in 1688 (Home sickness)
Bower :
Shady place under tree (Metaphor for school)
Drooping :
sad, bend from fatigue
Annoy :
annoyance, displease
Nipp’d :
clip, snap
Stripp’d :
Peeled off
Atheism :
The belief that God does not exist.
Comprehension:
I
1. Who, do
you think, ‘I’ refers to in the poem?
I refer to
William Blake in the poem
2. ‘Sweet
company’ refers to
Skylark,
Huntsman’s horn and bird’s song.
3. What
drives the boy’s joy away?
The very
thought of going to school drives the boy’s joy away.
4. How do
the little ones spend the day in the school?
The little ones spend the day in the school by sighing (grief) and dismay(Helplessness).
5. What does
‘cage’ stand for in the poem?
Cage stands
for School , where the children are entrapped.
6. Pick the phrase from the following which does not refer to formal schooling.
Fruits are
gathered.
7. Relate the seasons mentioned under column A with the stages of life.
1. Spring
-Childhood 2. Summer -Youth 3. Winter -Old age
1. What does the school boy love to do on a summer morn? What drives his joy away?
William Blake’s The School Boy’ is a typical example of Blake’s songs of Experience. Blake suggests that the educational system of his day destroys the joyful innocence of youth. Blake himself was largely self educated and did not endure the drudgery of the classroom as a child. This poem is less harsh and more playful than most of Blake’s other works. In the poem the poet speaks in the persona of a school child that wakes up in the morning. He loves to rise early in summer morning to enjoy the chirping sound of the birds, Huntsman’s horn and the melody of skylark singing. But all the happiness gets driven away when he realizes that he has to go to school. The main theme is the sorrow that the boy feels at the very thought of going to school. While he wishes to enjoy the summer. He has the obligation to go to a closed space, when he wishes to be very much outside in the nature.
2. Describe
the boy’s experience in the school.
William Blake, poet and painter had little formal education. His finest work as an artist is the series, “Inventions to the Book of job”. His collections of poetry include ‘Poetical Sketches’, ‘Songs of Innocence’, Marriage of Heaven and Hell. ‘The school Boy’ is a lyric from the ‘Songs of Experience’. Child loves to rise early in summer morning to enjoy but all the happiness disappears when he realizes that he has to go to school. The main theme is the sorrow that the boy feels at the very thought of going to school. While he wishes to enjoy the summer. The boy longs for the freedom of the outdoors and cannot take delight in his book. He is compelled to experience many anxious hour. The image of the bird is used in the poem. The birds sing happily when they are free but if they are in a cage they cannot do it the same way. In the same way the boy feels he is imprisoned at school. School boy in school and the bird in the cage are seen as equivalents not only at the natural level under physical subjection but at the spiritual level too. Both represent the caging and entrapping of imaginative vision. The image of the plant applies to the school boys present and future. The young plant like the young child is tender and vulnerable the way it is treated at this stage, dictates its later capacity to bear fruit. Just as food gathered in autumn is necessary to ensure survival through the winter, so also the experiences of joy and the freedom of the imagination are necessary for a person’s capacity to live well and survive the inevitable grief’s of life.
3. According to the poet how does formal education curb a learner’s potential?
William Blake is called a Transitional poet, He wrote social poetry which is concerned with the oppressed class of people. The school Boy is a lyric from the Songs of Experience. The poem starts in a very positive way but it changes radically and the tone is very pessimistic. The poet wishes his readers to see the difference between the freedom of imagination offered by the close contact with nature and the repression or subjugation of the soul caused by so called education. This poem depends upon 3 inter related images, the school boy, the bird and the plant; All three are dependent upon the way in which they are treated by human beings. Poet appeals that adults must realize that children are like plants, which needs to be nurtured and given proper care. They have to bear fruit later on. School should be the place where children are allowed to think freely. On the other hand memorizing things to learn history , civics literature as these subjects not only serve as the tools, people need to face life in a more global or better way, but they also sharpen the mind and expand points of view. So I think the poet is not arguing against education. But he wishes that school should provide students with challenges, competition and opportunities to enhance their creativity. It should be a place where children are provided with for practical play and develop at their own place.
Comprehension: III
1. Formal schooling not only takes away the joy of childhood but also hinders the child’s growth forever. Explain.
Or
Do you
think the poet is arguing against education? Discuss.
William Blake’s The School Boy’ is a typical example of Blake’s songs of Experience. Blake suggests that the educational system of his day destroys the joyful innocence of youth. Blake himself was largely self educated and did not endure the drudgery of the classroom as a child. This poem is less harsh and more playful than most of Blake’s other works. The poem starts in a very positive way but it changes radically and the tone is very pessimistic. The poet wishes his readers to see the difference between the freedom of imagination offered by the close contact with nature and the repression or subjugation of the soul caused by so called education. This poem depends upon 3 inter related images, the school boy, the bird and the plant; All three are dependent upon the way in which they are treated by human beings. In the poem the poet speaks in the persona of a school child that wakes up in the morning. The poet says the boy gets happiness in singing of bird and watching the huntsman. The nature is a sweet company to him. But when the boy realizes that he has to go to school makes him anxious, as he enters the school he spends the time in irritation and anxiety. The main theme is the sorrow that the boy feels at the very thought of going to school. While he wishes to enjoy the summer. He has the obligation to go to a closed space, when he wishes to be very much outside in the nature. The boy longs for the freedom of the outdoors and cannot take delight in his book. He is compelled to experience many anxious hour. The image of the bird is used in the poem. The birds sing happily when they are free but if they are in a cage they cannot do it the same way. In the same way the boy feels he is imprisoned at school. School boy in school and the bird in the cage are seen as equivalents not only at the natural level under physical subjection but at the spiritual level too. Both represent the caging and entrapping of imaginative vision. The image of the plant applies to the school boys present and future. The young plant like the young child is tender and vulnerable the way it is treated at this stage, dictates its later capacity to bear fruit. Just as food gathered in autumn is necessary to ensure survival through the winter, so also the experiences of joy and the freedom of the imagination are necessary for a person’s capacity to live well and survive the inevitable grief’s of life. Poet appeals that adults must realize that children are like plants, which needs to be nurtured and given proper care. They have to bear fruit later on. School should be the place where children are allowed to think freely and all round development is guaranteed. On the other hand memorizing things to learn history , civics literature as these subjects not only serve as the tools, people need to face life in a more global or better way, but they also sharpen the mind and expand points of view. So I think the poet is not arguing against education. But he wishes that school should provide students with challenges, competition and opportunities to enhance their creativity. It should be a place where children are provided with for practical play and develop at their own place.
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