'The Nurse's Song' by William Blake
source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life_of_William_Blake_(1880),_
Volume_1,_Songs_of_Innocence_-_Nurse's_Song.png
Text
The Nurse's Song
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 every thing 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 & play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d
And all the hills ecchoed
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast
And every thing 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 & play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d
And all the hills ecchoed
Articles and Essays
- BlakeSongSettings. (2010). Nurse’s Song and NURSE’S SONG with Commentary by Jeff Gillett. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20160419043339/http://blakesongsettings.co.uk/index.php/the-poems/108-nurses-song-innocence-and-experience
"In each of these poems, we are given the words of the nurse, who is, in modern terminology, a child-minder. In both poems, she states her own thoughts and feelings before addressing the children directly. In the first poem, from the Songs of Innocence, the children then reply, so that a dialogue continues between nurse and children. In the second poem, from the Songs of Experience, the children are given no opportunity to reply." - University of Toronto (course notes). (n.d.). ENGB02Y: English Literature: Historical Survey (SpringTerm) Retrieved from http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~mcuddy/ENGB02Y/NurseSong.htm
An outline in the form of useful course notes for both versions of 'The Nurse's Song' i.e. "- a nurse(maid) is usually an authority figure for children, the person who is 'in charge'"
William Blake's 'The Nurses Song' from 'The Songs of Experience'
Gilbert, F. (2013, August 17). William Blake's 'The Nurses Song' from 'The Songs of Experience' [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Akt9IGj9_M