How Their Poems The Schoolboy And The Essay Example

to represent the child's feelings about school. The poem is 6 verses long which could represent the long days that the child has to endure in school.The structure of the poem is a basic ABABB which could show the childlike way of the school boy. The structure of the poem represents the way in which the child is speaking. It is similar to a nursery rhyme which shows the innocence of the child.

Blake uses metaphors to present children, and the contrast that school has with nature. In the poem children are compared to caged birds when Blake writes, "How can the cag'd bird that is born for joy, sit in a cage and sing? "This metaphor shows that children, like birds should be free and not trapped in school like a bird in a cage. I think Blake uses a bird to compare the child to because birds are a symbol of freedom. Blake also compares children to flowers when he writes, "If buds are nip'd and blossoms blown away and if tender plants are stripped of their joy in the springing day, by sorrow and cares dismay".

This metaphor presents children as delicate buds and plants and if these are damaged in their early life then they can wither away and not achieve anything in life.Blake uses the poem "The school boy" to show that children do not want to learn at schools and instead if given the choice would choose to learn about life and nature by themselves and through experience. The story of the boat stealing episode from The Prelude is about a young Wordsworth finding a boat and stealing it.

It shows that young child, perhaps William Wordsworth, learns a lesson through nature and learns what is morally right in life on his own when he writes, "and were a trouble to my dreams" these words show that young Wordsworth is feeling guilt about what he's done and is unlikely to repeat what he has done.The tone of the poem is very cautious and suspicious, when young Wordsworth is rowing the boat he feels nervous and scared when Wordsworth writes, "with trembling oars I turned, and through the silent water stole my way.

", the words "trembling" and "stole" suggest that the child realises he is doing something wrong and feels scared of getting caught. Wordsworth uses poetic structures to represent children in The Boat Stealing Episode.He uses the metaphor, "She was an elfin pinnace" these words show that young Wordsworth is drawn in by the beauty of the boat and is very impressionable, the line Leaving behind her still on either side", these words show that Wordsworth is using personification to describe the boat which emphasises the idea of children being very impressionable. The structure of the boat stealing episode is very free flowing and is just one large verse, which could show that Wordsworth is trying to represent the freedoms of the child.

It also has less rhyming features than in the schoolboy which is shown in, "One summer evening (led by her) I foundA little boat tied to a willow tree", This could represent the differences of freedom between young Wordsworth, who is free with nature, and the schoolboy who has education forced upon him. At a time of great repression of

children the structure of the boat stealing episode conveys a sense of freedom within the child, which is a huge contrast with other children of the time. In both poems children are presented as nature lovers and still having a lot to learn about the world.In the story of the boat stealing episode from "The Prelude", the child is shown to be free whereas in "The Schoolboy" children have education forced upon them. In both poems children are learning in different ways and the poems show the effectiveness of each type of education. In The Schoolboy the child is bored and dislikes school, so is unlikely to learn well, whereas in the boat stealing episode, the child learns a hard and meaningful lesson, which he is unlikely to forget.