Poetry - For 1520

INTRODUCTION

Piping down the valleys wild

Piping songs of pleasant glee

On a cloud I saw a child

And he laughing said to me 'Pipe a song about a Lamb

So I piped with merry cheer 'Piper , pipe that song again

So I piped : he wept to hear 'Drop thy pipe , thy happy pipe

Sing thy songs of happy cheer

So I sung the same again

While he wept with joy to hear 'Piper , sit thee down and write

In a book , that all may read

So he vanished

from my sight

And I plucked a hollow reed

And I made a rural pen

And I stained the water clear

And I wrote my happy songs

Every child may joy to hear

William Blake (1757-1827

Assignment

Read William Blake 's "Introduction " to Songs of Innocence (above ) and write a 300- to 400-word response explaining how the rhythmic effects of the poem contribute to its meaning

William Blake 's Introduction ' to Songs of Innocence features rhythmic effects which contribute to the poem 's meaning

Blake writes about a child On a cloud ' which requests the piper to Pipe a song about a Lamb , Sing thy songs , and sit thee down and write / In a book , that all may read

Upon reading the poem for the first time the content and rhyme seem extremely simple and straightforward . The poem contains a 'time meter which gives the poem a juvenile and sing- song monotony . A time meter is the same type of rhythm that is found in nursery rhymes

Upon further examination it is clear that Blake is actually writing about creation . Specifically the role of creator that an author fills That a poet must retain a bit of child-like imagination through which he receives his inspiration . This child-like state is mirrored through the immature insistent tempo of the poem . The rhythmic effect appeals to the child 's ear still within each adult

However , once inspired he must escape from the dream to write . His inspiration must vanish[ed] ' like the child to allow the author to make a a rural pen ' and write happy songs . He must fall to be ability to share what he has written . Which parallels the biblical stories of Jesus . Introduction ' by Blake is a stealthy poem that uses the appearance and sound of a nursery rhyme to incorporate ideas of creation and the inevitable loss of innocence in writing and life...