A picture of a child in “A Song in the Front Yard”
In the poem “A Song in the Front Yard” we get a picture of a child who needs and wants to explore the world beyond her front yard. She knows that there is a bigger world beyond her restricting boundary wall, “I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life,”(Line 1), and seeks to explore the world. Her sheltered childhood has forced her to think about what might be beyond these boundaries. “I want a peek at the back” (Line 2). This simple insight indicates that she feels simply exploring the backyard may be a good starting point. “To where the charity children play. I want a good time today. They do some wonderful things.
They have some wonderful fun”. (Lines 8-10) the child feels that since other children are having fun, she ought to be part of that larger experience. The poem is about restrictions placed on a person that chain his desire to explore and learn. Though these boundaries are created for our protection often they seem like chains.
The child in ‘A sick Rose’
The poem, A sick Rose, by William Blake on the other hand deals with the subject of a rose and worm. Now when we compare the two poems, they initially appear less common. But upon closer analysis, we notice many similarities. In both cases, a fragile subject is under study. In the first poem, it was the child who we all know is quite fragile. In this poem, it’s a rose which by nature is delicate. Both the child and the rose are suffering from an obsessive love of someone. In the first case, the child is suffering because of over-protection. The parents love the child and want him to stay within the front yard boundary of the house.
But the child is not happy with this restriction, it is eating on him. The other poem deals in a similar fashion with the delicate subject who is being eaten away by the obsessive love of a worm. The worm is attached to the rose because it loves the subject but that love is bad for the rose. In almost the same manner, the overprotection of parents is bad for the child.
The child is being told all sorts of things to justify overprotection: “My mother sneers, but I say it’s fine how they don’t have to go in at quarter to nine. My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Ma will grow up to be a bad woman.” (Lines 11-14) but the child doesn’t agree with her mom. She doesn’t probably even understand why people who stay out would grow up to be bad. In her small mind, the child is desperately thinking of the world beyond her house. She wants to be as carefree as the children in the street.
The child wants to be free, to be able to stay out longer, to experience the wonders of the world and we must all understand that it is extremely for a child to be able to explore. A child who is not given the chance to do so becomes dull in almost the same manner as the love of the worm withers away the rose.
Conclusion
Love in its obsessive form is always negative and never desirable. It is one thing to love someone and it is another to chain that person down thinking that this is love. In both poems, we learn about the obsessive kind of love. Parents’ love for the child is a positive force but when it is so restrictive that it inhibits the growth of a child, it becomes a negative force that must be countered. Children are very delicate and encouragement is to them like water is to flowers. They need their parent’s love and support to see and explore the world and they want parents to encourage this exploration. However, when it doesn’t happen, the child can suffer much in the same way as the rose suffers.