On the surface, “Nurse’s Song” is a poem about a Nurse who is watching over some children while they play. Since it is in the book “Songs of Innocence”, this poem seems to reflect that theme of innocence. The children are innocent in their desire to keep on playing despite the oncoming nighttime: “No no let us play, for it is yet day” (10). This line is also an example of the internal rhyme that occurs throughout the poem. It creates a melodic quality to it that makes the title of the poem fitting.

The children can only see the positives of playing with their friends and are unaware of the dangers that come with the dark. The happiness the children find in their own innocence seems to affect the Nurse, since she allows them to continue playing. Unlike the rest of the poems in the collection, this is one poem that actually seems to be about innocence. There are no looming figures about to harm the children, and no omens of impending danger. The poem even embeds the children with other symbols of innocence : “Besides in the sky, the little birds fly / And the hills are all coverd with sheep” (12-13). The birds could have been described more ominously, however they are in the diminutive to make them seem innocent. Sheep are also seen as innocent figures that are associated with purity. The nurse, as an adult, even acts as a guardian angel figure while watching over the children.

All of the engravings include lots of color, with the exception of Copy U that is done in black and white. They all emphasize the image of the children playing at twilight while being watched by the nurse. In all the engravings the nurse is relaxed while watching them, further emphasizing the lack of danger present towards the children. Since Copy U is the only one that lacks color, it could affect the reading of the poem. Since it lacks color it creates a lack of happiness and cheerfulness that is present in the poem. By minimizing the tone of the poem, this engraving could add the sense of danger that is missing from the poem.

Reading poems from an archive changes how we read them because it can constantly be updated. An archive can also make it easier to see other poems that were written around the same time that spoke about similar topics. While you could do the same thing with an anthology or a textbook, an archive is constantly being updated and so can provide new ideas.