{"id":373,"date":"2022-11-04T12:25:45","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T12:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earlycricket.uk\/?page_id=373"},"modified":"2025-08-07T07:12:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T07:12:32","slug":"the-echoing-green-by-william-blake","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-echoing-green-by-william-blake\/","title":{"rendered":"The Echoing Green &#8211; William Blake (1789)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-page pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373?print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>This poem is in a very different category from most other cricket verse of the eighteenth century. William Blake is a writer of considerable stature; his <em>Songs of Innocence<\/em> (published 1789), from which this poem is taken, is among the classics of the early Romantic Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While cricket is not mentioned specifically, the second of Blake&#8217;s illustrations includes a youth holding a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/kit-and-equipment\/#The_curved_bat_%E2%80%93_used_1740s_to_1770s\">curved cricket bat<\/a>, showing that the game was included in the sports that were being enjoyed by the youths on the village green. The poem is deeply evocative of childhood summer days, the security of loving families and communities and the joy of play. The poem, though, has an elegiac tone, mentioning the fleeting nature of youth and the onset of old age, which catches up with us all, much as the sun sets at the end of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"782\" src=\"http:\/\/earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Echoing-Green-complete-1024x782.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Echoing-Green-complete-1024x782.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Echoing-Green-complete-300x229.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Echoing-Green-complete-768x587.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Echoing-Green-complete-1536x1173.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Echoing-Green-complete.jpg 1939w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The text reads as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\"><strong>The sun does arise,\nAnd make happy the skies.\nThe merry bells ring\nTo welcome the Spring.\nThe sky-lark and thrush,\nThe birds of the bush,\nSing louder around,\nTo the bells\u2019 cheerful sound. \nWhile our sports shall be seen\nOn the Echoing Green.\n \nOld John, with white hair \nDoes laugh away care,\nSitting under the oak,\nAmong the old folk, \nThey laugh at our play, \nAnd soon they all say.\n\u2018Such, such were the joys. \nWhen we all girls &amp; boys, \nIn our youth-time were seen, \nOn the Echoing Green.\u2019\n \nTill the little ones weary\nNo more can be merry\nThe sun does descend,\nAnd our sports have an end: \nRound the laps of their mothers, \nMany sisters and brothers,\nLike birds in their nest,\nAre ready for rest;\nAnd sport no more seen,\nOn the darkening Green. <\/strong><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/keridavies.blogspot.com\/2017\/07\/william-blake-and-cricket.html\">link <\/a>takes you to an article about Blake and cricket<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This poem is in a very different category from most other cricket verse of the eighteenth century. William Blake is a writer of considerable stature; his Songs of Innocence (published 1789), from which this poem is taken, is among the classics of the early Romantic Period. While cricket is not mentioned specifically, the second of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-373","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PdOpLv-61","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5110,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373\/revisions\/5110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}