The poem depicts the cycle of life through three stages: youth, maturity, and old age. The first stanza describes cheerful children at play on a green field in springtime. The second stanza shows old John and others watching and reminiscing about their own youth. The third stanza portrays the children growing tired as night falls and returning home, mirroring the journey from youth to old age.

1. THE ECHOING GREEN
William Blake

2. THE ECHOING GREEN
The Sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring,
To welcome the Spring,
The sky-lark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells cheerful sound,
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.
Old John with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk.
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say,
Such, such were the joys,
When we all, girls & boys,
In our youth time were seen,
On the Echoing Green.
Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest:
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.

3. “nature is a cycle of joyful new life
and quiet death, which is mirrored in
the human lives of carefree, innocent
youth and their eventual aging”

4. FIRST STANZA
The Sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring,
To welcome the Spring,
The sky-lark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells cheerful sound,
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.
uplifting words with positive
connotations
• vivid imagery
• cheerful and optimistic tone
• sense of renewal and rebirth
• personification of the sun
• auditory imagery
• celebratory mood
• children connected to nature
through their carefreeness and
innocence
•

5. children laughing in the
bright sunlight and running
on a green lawn
• “Chimney Sweeper”:
hope of the poor
working children for a
blissful life in heaven
• “The Echoing Green”:
ability of children to
enjoy life
• confidence that the
children will be playing on
•
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
“The Chimney Sweeper”
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.
“The Echoing Green”

6. SECOND STANZA
Old John with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk.
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say,
Such, such were the joys,
When we all, girls & boys,
In our youth time were seen,
On the Echoing Green.
experiences of maturity
common name and generic
description of “white hair”
• commonplace names
• white hair
•
•
-"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."
-That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black
“The Chimney Sweeper”

7. Old John with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk.
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say,
Such, such were the joys,
When we all, girls & boys,
In our youth time were seen,
On the Echoing Green.
• Old
John is sitting under an
oak tree
• older life that coexists with
the new
• Old John and the other “old
folk” laugh away their
worries
• repetition of the word
“such”
• lingering quality
• reminiscent tone

8. THIRD STANZA
Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest:
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.
complete contrast
darker, sobering imagery
does not include any auditory
imagery
• both darkness and silence are
related to the nigh
• children “ready for rest”
• intertwined with nature with
simile
• penultimate line is missing
“our” removes the presence
•
•
•

9. Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest:
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.
• detachment
from the other
stages represented by the
other two stanzas
• simple, subdued diction
• tired, fading tone

10. OVERALL REMARKS
The Sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring,
To welcome the Spring,
The sky-lark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells cheerful sound,
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.
•
•
•
•
Old John with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk.
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say,
Such, such were the joys,
When we all, girls & boys,
In our youth time were seen,
On the Echoing Green.
Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest:
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.
rhyme couplets
slant rhyme in “The Chimney Sweeper”
simple diction
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
speakers are children
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
“The Chimney Sweeper”

11. OVERALL REMARKS
The Sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring,
To welcome the Spring,
The sky-lark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells cheerful sound,
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Old John with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk.
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say,
Such, such were the joys,
When we all, girls & boys,
In our youth time were seen,
On the Echoing Green.
Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest:
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.
simile
green is a repeated motif
parallel structure
vivid imagery of children playing
motif of cycles
repetition of “on the echoing green”

12. CONCLUSIONS
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
“The Chimney Sweeper”
Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest:
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.
“The Echoing Green”
•
•
false hope vs. acceptance
cyclical nature of human life.