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How can the bird that is born for joy

Sit in a cage and sing?

How can a child, when fears annoy,

But droop his tender wing,

And forget his youthful spring!

O! father and mother, if buds are nip’d,

And blossoms blown away;

And if the tender plants are stripp’d

Of their joy in the springing day,

By sorrow and care’s dismay,

How shall the summer arise in joy,
nip’d: (short for ‘nipped’)
remove something by pinching
Or the summer fruits appear? or squeezing sharply
mellowing: making or
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, becoming calm

Or bless the mellowing year,

When the blasts of winter appear?

—William Blake

About the Poet
William Blake (1757–1827) was an English poet and engraver. His first collection of poems, Poetical Sketches, was
published in 1783. Blake is chiefly remembered for the poems he wrote for children, Songs of Innocence (1789) and
Songs of Experience (1794). Songs of Innocence is a collection of lyrical poems that present a very simplistic view of the
world. Songs of Experience presents the same themes as Songs of Innocence, but reflects on the poverty and suffering in
the world. ‘The School Boy’ appears in Songs of Experience.