Nurse's Song by William Blake

A nurse watches the children play outside as dusk approaches. When she calls them in, they plead for a little more time, and she happily agrees. The poem concludes with the kids leaping and laughing, their joy echoing off the hills. It's a charming, joyful snapshot of childhood freedom, highlighting a caring adult who understands the importance of letting go.

It's from Songs of Innocence (1789), which is significant because Blake wrote a second "Nurse's Song" in Songs of Experience (1794). In this later poem, the nurse figure expresses bitterness and envy towards the children's youth. The existence of both poems reveals that Blake wasn't merely composing charming children's verses; he was intentionally contrasting two perspectives on the world.

In Blake's time, a "nurse" in a wealthy household was essentially a nanny — a woman tasked with caring for children. She's not a medical nurse; instead, she's a caregiver. In this poem, she embodies warmth and permissiveness, listening to the children rather than just giving orders.

Peaceful and joyful. The nurse finds a sense of complete rest in the sound of children laughing. Even the little negotiation about staying out longer is lighthearted—it wraps up quickly and happily. Blake uses simple, musical language, which enhances the sense that everything here is effortless and positive.

It's Blake's way of expressing that the children's joy is so immense it fills the entire natural world. The hills don’t just hear the laughter; they echo it back. Nature engages with childhood happiness instead of remaining indifferent. This creates a small yet impactful image of harmony between humans and their surroundings.

The poem consists of two eight-line stanzas featuring a consistent rhyme scheme and a lively rhythm, which is roughly anapestic—characterized by two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one. Blake wrote Songs of Innocence with the idea that many of the poems could be sung, and this particular piece has the straightforward, repetitive quality of a folk song or nursery rhyme. This aspect contributes to its portrayal of the carefree nature of childhood.

The Experience version presents a starkly different emotional landscape. Here, the nurse listens to the children playing and feels a mix of envy and regret — she reflects on her own youth as "wasted in play" and perceives the children's smiles as masks for anxiety. While the Innocence nurse allows the children to roam freely, the Experience nurse is weighed down by time and the sense of loss. Blake crafted these characters as reflections of one another to illustrate how the same circumstances can appear entirely different based on whether you view the world through the lens of innocence or experience.

The main themes are the freedom of childhood, the connection between nature and innocence, and a type of adult authority that listens and adapts instead of dominating. There's also a subtle theme about joy being natural and self-sustaining: the children don't require constant entertainment or supervision; they simply need space to play.