The Blossom Lyrics
Two short verses seen from the point of view of a blossom under green leaves. In the first a sparrow, fast as an arrow, flies to its narrow nest; in the second a robin sings close by. The words are by William Blake, from his Songs of Innocence.
The Blossom
Merry, merry sparrow!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Sees you, swift as arrow,
Seek your cradle narrow,
Near my bosom.
Pretty, pretty robin!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
Pretty, pretty robin,
Near my bosom.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-blossom-william-blake/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- William Blake
- Tune
- Quick and bright for the sparrow, then slower and softer for the robin
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does The Blossom Mean?
The poem has two verses of six lines, and the second copies the first with a different bird. Each begins by calling out to a bird ("Merry, merry sparrow!", "Pretty, pretty robin!") and then tells what "a happy blossom" under the green leaves sees or hears. So the garden is seen through the blossom's eyes and ears.
Three words need a little help. A cradle is a small bed for a baby, and here it is the bird's nest, a narrow bed of twigs. Swift as arrow compares the sparrow's flight to the speed of an arrow. Bosom is an old word for the chest, the part of a body near the heart, and here it means the middle of the blossom, where the nest is close by.
The robin is "sobbing, sobbing", a soft, repeated sound. No reason is given for the sobbing, and it is enough for a young child to notice that the robin makes a sound the blossom can hear. Both birds are named twice in a row ("merry, merry", "pretty, pretty"), which makes the lines easy to echo.
History and Origin
William Blake lived from 1757 to 1827 and made his books by hand, engraving the words and pictures on copper plates. "The Blossom" belongs to Songs of Innocence, which he published in 1789. The poems in it use plain words and short lines, and many of them speak to a small animal, a child or a flower.
Learning Activities
- Sparrow and robin: two children or two voices take one bird each, calling its name in the first line of the verse.
- Fast and slow: run two fingers quickly across a table for the sparrow, then tap softly for the robin.
- Look for a nest: in spring, look at a hedge from a distance and see whether any bird flies in and out. Keep well back so as not to disturb it.
- Draw the blossom's view: draw leaves round the edge of the page, and put the blossom and a bird in the middle.