The School Boy Summary Class 8 English

Introduction

The poem "The Schoolboy" by William Blake is written from the viewpoint of a young boy who dislikes attending school in a "disciplined way" and wishes to be like the birds. For him, a school is similar to a jail that prevents an individual's creativity from developing. The poem is divided into six stanzas; the pattern is ABABB, and it can be found in Blake's book "The Songs of Innocence". Thus, the author expresses a young boy's pure character and wants in this poem.

About William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827), an English poet who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was among the most significant. He sometimes gets lumped in with the Romantics, like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, even though most of his work stands apart from theirs. He collaborated with the Lake Poets independently.

Blake's major topics include religion, poverty and the poor, and the suffering of the most oppressed or disenfranchised members of society (verses from Milton's poem provided the words for the patriotic English hymn "Jerusalem"). In contrast to his fellow Romantics, he often employs other subjects, like the deep symbolism of the rose and the worm, to write poems that are plainly about other things (sin, violence, spirituality, humiliation and evil). He is not a "nature" poet in the same sense.

The Explanation for Each Stanza

1st Stanza

The schoolboy enjoys getting up early in the summertime. Birds may be observed chirping from every tree at this time of year. The skylark joins in the singing by singing when the huntsman blows his horn from a distance while moving towards the hunt. The schoolboy claims it is his finest company, which he greatly appreciates.

The poem's first stanza is devoted to what brings the little child joy. Like birds, he enjoys getting up in the morning and taking part in the activities that are going on. The early hours of the day are a time for ambitions and optimism. As a result, both people and animals awaken in the quest for a purpose.

2nd Stanza

The tone shifts from pleasure, jubilation, and optimism in the second verse and beyond to dismay and joylessness. The young student claims that coming to school in the mornings of summer saps all of his excitement.

In the classroom, students are required to spend the whole day under the supervision of a teacher who, in an old-fashioned manner, keeps an eye on the kids to ensure that they carefully adhere to the rules and regulations. He claims that young ones must thus spend their days in misery and unhappiness.

The second verse expresses the schoolboy's dissatisfaction with the way schoolwork is carried out. The youngsters are constantly observed and made to follow the rules, which may make life miserable.

3rd Stanza

The schoolboy here narrates his day at school. He claims that he often sits and spends much time bored, and books don't bring him pleasure or happiness.

The following paragraph needs to be clearer. Here, the kid claims that he feels no delight when sitting in the learner's pavilion, which he claims is worn out from the gloomy rain. A bower is a shaded area under a tree.

However, "learner's bower" refers to where people go to learn, such as a school, university, or other places where people congregate.

Thus, according to the schoolboy, the "learner's bower" has a flaw since it was struck by a "dreary shower". In a specific context, a light shower refers to a disastrously heavy downpour. However, when we attempt to draw a connection between the "dreary shower" and the "learner's bower," it suggests that the educational program at the school has been harmed or is flawed.

Why is it flawed? It may be seen in the preceding stanza, namely, the cruel eye. Young students must study in a more relaxed environment, and he craves pleasure, love, and freedom. However, the fundamental goal of education has been shattered by the harsh criticism of parents or professors.

The students are forced to learn those things which make them capable of acquiring materialistic things and for that, they have to give up all the things which would have otherwise made them a better human.

4th Stanza

In the fourth stanza, he compares himself to a caged bird with other students like him. A bird designed to be free and happy gets upset when caged. In a cage, a bird cannot sing or enjoy itself as it would normally. Therefore, he poses the rhetorical query: "How can a child blossom in a stressful and constrained environment like the one provided by schools?" to the readers on the same grounds. He refers to himself as "the bird" and his school as "a cage."

He understands the importance of education and their need to study. Still, he is upset by the atmosphere in which they are forced to live, constantly watched, and denied the freedom to learn and express themselves. The birds lose their "youthful spring" in a cage and stop fluttering their wings. Similarly, he queries how a youngster can shape themself into losing the soul, pleasure, and happiness that comes with age and be creative in such a setting.

5th Stanza

He is talking to his parents in this stanza. According to him, if the child's freedom is taken away like a flower's buds, its flowers (i.e., joy) are blown away, and if newly grown twigs, which are the child's newly acquired joy, are cut off in the springtime (i.e. when the child begins to grow up), he, like the blooming plant, will be left in sorrow and dismay.

6th Stanza

The preceding stanza continues into this one. The poet describes how summer may be happy when flower buds are clipped, blooms are thrown away, and twigs are trimmed away.

Summer's fruit would never materialize. So, how would the plants (in this case, children) be able to get the fruit that has been damaged? How can summer be a gift when the blasts of winter arrive?

The last stanza is symbolic. The little youngster compares the kids and the devastated springtime flora. He believed children needed freedom to flourish effectively, much like flowers.

Entire Summary

A poem by William Blake called "The Schoolboy" may be found in Songs of Innocence. It is recounted from the viewpoint of a little kid heading to school over the summer. The boy hates going to school because he prefers summer mornings. He is bored at his desk and cannot pay attention to the class lesson since he prefers to play outdoors in natural settings.

"How can the bird born for joy sit in a cage and sing?" the speaker questions in the fourth verse. Here, the author compares young children-animated and joyful-to songbirds, who deserve the freedom to soar on the breezes. Children who are confined to a classroom, however, are unable to express themselves and cannot make use of all that extra energy. Thus, they are unable to reach their full potential.

The speaker confronts the parents in the last two stanzas, posing, "What will the summer fruits look like if buds are nipped/...and if fragile creatures are stripped/ of their delight? If kids cannot play and have fun throughout the summer, how can they develop and grow to their full potential?

This poem is about letting children be children, play and run outdoors to enjoy the blessings of nature and the seasons. This practice benefits them just as much as academic learning does.