This question is based on Selected Poems from Johnson,R.et al (eds.): New Poetry from African (ed); Poems of…

Analyze the question: It asks about the tone of the persona in William Blake's "The School Boy" (from Songs of Experience).

Explain the concept: Tone is the speaker's attitude toward the subject. In this poem the boy loves the freedom of nature: rising early in summer, hearing the skylark and the hunting horn. School, by contrast, is a place of drudgery.

Working through the poem:

• The boy says he loves to rise on a summer morning when birds sing and the distant huntsman winds his horn.
• At school, he sits "in sighs and dismay," under "cruel eye outworn," and "drooping" through the day.
• He laments that children are being confined, and asks how a bud or bird can flourish if it is stripped of joy and caged, and how mankind can flourish when its childhood is stifled by care.
• The language shows resentment and disdain for the rigid, joyless school system and the adults who impose it.

Checking the options:

• A. Fear: he is unhappy and drooping, but he is not terrified. His voice is more critical than frightened.
• B. Fulfillment: wrong, since school brings him misery.
• C. Contempt: the persona expresses scorn and disapproval toward the oppressive schooling system. This fits best.
• D. Neutrality: wrong, because the poem is strongly emotional and critical.

Tip: For Blake's Songs of Experience, expect themes of oppression, lost innocence, and criticism of institutions (school, church, society). The tone will often be bitter, critical or scornful, not neutral.