Laughing Song Lyrics
Twelve lines in which the whole countryside laughs: the woods, the stream, the air, the hill, the meadows and a grasshopper, then three girls singing "Ha ha he!" and an invitation to sit down to cherries and nuts. William Blake published it in 1789 in his Songs of Innocence.
Laughing Song
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene;
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing 'Ha ha he!'
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of 'Ha ha he!'
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/laughing-song/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- William Blake
- Tune
- Light and quick, building to the 'Ha ha he!' at the end of the second and third verses
- Best for ages
- 3 to 9 years
What Does Laughing Song Mean?
Each verse starts with the same word, When, and lists things that are laughing. Nothing really laughs out loud except the girls. The poet gives a laugh to everything cheerful: the woods have a "voice of joy", the stream runs "laughing by", and the green hill laughs "with the noise of it", which means the hill seems to answer the sound. A stream that is dimpling makes small dents and ripples on its surface, like dimples in a cheek.
The second verse brings in people: Mary, Susan and Emily sing "Ha ha he!" with "sweet round mouths". In the third verse the painted birds, birds with bright, colourful feathers, laugh in the shade, and a table is spread with cherries and nuts. The last two lines turn to the reader: come, be merry, and join in the chorus.
The poem is one long sentence of "when" clauses that finally ends with a request. The reader is waiting for the main verb the whole time, and it arrives only in line 11: "Come live, and be merry".
History and Origin
William Blake lived from 1757 to 1827 and worked as both poet and engraver. "Laughing Song" belongs to Songs of Innocence, which came out in 1789 and was later joined to a second set of poems under the title Songs of Innocence and of Experience in 1794. Blake etched the words and the pictures himself, so each early copy of the book was a hand-made object.
The mood is cheerful from the first line to the last, and the poem has no sad note at all, which makes it an easy one to read aloud to a young child.
Learning Activities
- Laughing chorus: read the poem aloud and let everyone join in at 'Ha ha he!', louder each time it comes round.
- What else laughs? add a new line together: 'When the ___ laughs with ___', using something the children can see from the window.
- Cherry picnic: set out a blanket and a few cherries and nuts (check for allergies first) and read the third verse there.
- Dimples in water: drop a pebble in a bowl of water and watch the dimples spread, then say which line it matches.