The Ecchoing Green, Essay Example

William Blake’s poem “The Ecchoing Green” is a poem that fuses a number of different modes. It is a lyric poem that utilizes a formal rhyme scheme. It is also a narrative poem that features dialogue and characters. Additionally, the poem has multilayered meaning in that the images of the poem carry a symbolic meaning. in this sense, it is an allegorical poem. In a poem that uses allegory, there is usually a surface meaning that is obvious to the reader and a deeper meaning that is only accessible through a careful study of the poem’s imagery and other elements. The surface level meaning of this poem is that of the passing of time which transforms children into elderly men and woman who look back longingly for their youth as a day passing from sunrise to evening. Below this surface the poem explores the theme of lost innocence and the Christian idea of sin and redemption.

Blake uses a number of traditional poetic devices: rhyme, meter, image and symbol to transmit his allegorical meaning. He also utilizes a narrative form. The speaker of the poem is a child who begins to understand how time will eventually change childhood to old-age. In the opening lines of the poem, the images that are used are that of a summer sky, a bell, skylarks, and Spring. The image of the green grass is an expression of the original innocence and harmony that exists in both children and allegorically to humanity’s relationship to God. The closing lines of the first stanza: “While our sports shall be seen / On the Ecchoing Green.” (Blake, 9-10) indicate that the children are well-watched under a rising sun and that their play is harmless.

The first hint that something may change the scene of joy is in the second stanza with the line “‘Such, such were the joys.”(Blake, 17) The use of the past tense in the word “were” is meant to show how time interrupts the innocence of childhood and the innocence of the original religious impulse. From this point on the poem’s focus changes from a celebration of innocence to a mourning old-age. At the same time, the symbolic or allegorical focus shifts to the state of sin. This theme is common in many other works by Blake who published a collection of poems titled Songs of Innocence and Experience. The poem’s last stanza and particularly its concluding lines show the inverse of the opening stanza. The poem presents a picture of the transition of innocence to experience. An irony is offered by the use of the sing-song rhythm and simple rhyme scheme that is intended to emulate a child’s song or a prayer.

The poem’s resolution is that everything that begins in a state of innocence must eventually fall into a state of experience and from this a state of regret and longing. The tricky part of the poem is to understand how this state of longing, in turn, leads to a greater state of understanding and wisdom. It is implied that the longing for the prior sunny days of childhood is also a longing for redemption from sin. When the symbols of the sky and sun are taken to indicate spiritual ideals, then the redemptive part of the poem is shown to be in the creative spirit and the spirit of love that is characterized by “Old John.” The symbolic message of the poem is similar to the Christian idea of salvation but the poem uses nature symbols to convey the idea of rebirth. This makes the poem seem in some way pre-Christian or pagan. Blake’s message is that the redemptive quality of God is in nature itself. I like this idea and feel that the poem does a wonderful job of inciting the reader to consider profound topics and ideas without seeming intimidating or difficult to follow.

Work Cited

Blake, William. “The Ecchoing Green.” Poetry Foundation.com; accessed 10-3-14;  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/246770