Analysis of Laughing Song

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



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!'


Scheme XXAA BBCC XXCC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (33%)
Metre 1011110111 00111101 10111110101 0011110111 10111101 0010100101 1100100100 111111111 101011001 110101100111 1101100111 1101101111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 538
Words 105
Sentences 3
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 136
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

30 sec read
186

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

All William Blake poems | William Blake Books

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