Delineate the rural setting of Blake’s ‘ Introduction’ to ‘Songs of Innocence’.

Blake envisions himself as a shepherd “Piping down the valleys wild,” who encounters a child “On a cloud” (line 3) who encourages him to play a song “about a Lamb.” After hearing the music, the child asks the shepherd to drop his pipe and sing the words to the song.

The poet sees a child in the sky, upon a cloud. This child is both an embodiment of innocence, as he is young, and the inspiration behind poetry, as he charges the shepherd to play, sing, and write.