In this poem from the "Songs of Innocence" section of his eighteenth-century collection Songs of Innocence and Experience, Blake offers a gentle observation of life over the span of a day in a country setting. A spring morning unfolds to reveal children at play on the "echoing green" while their elders watch fondly and remember their own youth. The poem ends with the close of day and moves indoors, where families gather in their comfortable, loving homes for a peaceful night's rest.
The poem is comprised of three ten-lined stanzas with five end-rhymed couplets in each. The meter is iambic pentameter, creating a traditional, predictable rhythm that echoes the predictable stages of one's life and the stages of a day, which are both observed in the poem.
Blake's diction is simple and accessible; this is not a poem that requires deep analysis to uncover meaning. The imagery he creates appeals to the senses; the sounds he describes include bells, bird songs, and laughter, and the sights are of children at play, white-haired elders who enjoy their antics, the green, an oak tree, and a sunrise and sunset.
Blake's purpose is to recognize the cyclical nature of life and its simpler pleasures of nature, community, and family.
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