Great Regulars: In the fourth stanza, the speaker likens

the "little ones" including himself to a poor bird that cannot sing because it is sitting in a cage. Yet Maya Angelou's famous title claimed, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Who is correct? Can a caged bird sing or not?

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: William Blake's 'The Schoolboy'

~~~~~~~~~~~

But after the first eight lines that are describing the sounds of men working, she makes a startling observance, which suddenly transforms those prose-like lines into poetry: "They will always make such sounds,/Years after I am dead and cannot hear them." These lines move the reader to wonder what will come next, why is the speaker thinking about her death?

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Amy Lowell's 'Penumbra'

~~~~~~~~~~~

The speaker qualifies his sadness with a fascinating and fairly apt metaphor: "I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,/And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin'-hole." The experience of swimming in the old swimmin' hole has been so attractive to him that he hopes to shed his body like clothes and have his soul experience the grave as his body had experienced the creek.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Riley's 'The Old Swimmin'-Hole'

~~~~~~~~~~~