When I read this poem I really was feeling a sense of reminiscence from when the author was a child. I feel that he is trying to convey the perspective from his formative years now told as an adult. Reading this, I myself had felt kind a sigh of remembrance of the innocence of youth.
Totally! I see this idea of Blake speaking as an adult coming out in the second stanza where the "Old John" character makes his appearance.
ReplyDeleteThe poem almost seems to be mirroring the passing of a day with the passing of a life- the first stanza is youth and a rising sun "On the echoing green," while the final stanza comes after "Old John" at the end of the day on a "darkening green".
The hole in my thinking here is that the middle stanza doesn't seem to adequately represent a mid-day point of life- thoughts?
Maybe mid-life is too busy with the cares of life-maybe one needs to grow old to become young again? Also, As per class discussion Wed. I was intrigued with the idea about a fall from music to poetry in the third stanza of "Songs of Innocence" ( the child vanishes and the narrator "pluck' d a HOLLOW reed" Is music the highest or purest art form? art form? Is poetry a "fallen" form of music?
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