To Spring by William Blake
To Spring – William Blake (from Poetical Sketches, 1783)
William Blake, an English poet, painter, and printmaker born on November 28, 1757, is now celebrated as a pivotal figure in Romantic poetry and visual art, despite being largely overlooked during his lifetime. His work is characterized by its expressiveness, ingenuity, and metaphysical themes.
William Blake
“To Spring” is a poem from Blake’s collection “Poetical Sketches” published in 1783. Divided into four stanzas of four lines each, the poem lacks a traditional rhyme scheme but follows an iambic pentameter.
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker who lived from November 28, 1757, to August 12, 1827. Blake, who went mostly unnoticed during his lifetime, is now regarded as a pivotal figure in the history of Romantic poetry and visual art.
Although Blake’s eccentric ideas caused him to be labeled as insane by his contemporaries, later reviewers praised him for his expressiveness and ingenuity, as well as the metaphysical and spiritual undercurrents in his work. His artwork and writings have been categorized as Romantic in nature.
Blake’s poem “To Spring” – is taken from his collection Poetical Sketches, 1783.
The poem structure
“To Spring” is a poem from Blake’s collection “Poetical Sketches” published in 1783. Divided into four stanzas of four lines each, the poem lacks a traditional rhyme scheme but follows an iambic pentameter.
The poem analysis
The speaker in the poem – To Spring – is addressing the season of spring. The poet invites the seasons to come to his land.
Blake personifies spring as an angelic figure looking down from a window (similar to Juliet on the balcony looking down at Romeo). The earth is longing for this angel who is described as having “dewy locks,” “angel eyes,” “holy feet,” and “perfumed garments.” The speaker is asking for the angel spring to come down to earth and prepare to sow the seed of a new cycle. Blake is inviting the spring angel to “scatter thy pearls / upon our lovesick land” – “our western isle” (England.)
The speaker claims that spring is dawn, the new beginning. This poem has a hopeful tone. After the harshness of winter, there is a general optimism that fundamental unity and innocence would prevail over the oppressive power of experience.
The Poem
To Spring
O thou with dewy locks, who lookest down
Through the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring!
The hills tell one another, and the listening
Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turn’d
Up to thy bright pavilions: issue forth
And let thy holy feet visit our clime!
Come o’er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumèd garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our lovesick land that mourns for thee.
O deck her forth with thy fair fingers; pour
Thy soft kisses on her bosom; and put
Thy golden crown upon her languish’d head,
Whose modest tresses are bound up for thee.
Comprehension:
Are these statements true or false?
- William Blake was primarily known as a painter during his lifetime. (…)
- “To Spring” is a poem that follows a strict rhyme pattern. (…)
- The speaker in the poem addresses the season of autumn. (…)
- Spring is personified as an angelic figure in the poem. (…)
- The poem suggests that spring brings pessimism and despair. (…)
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