 The poem is written as a clear authorial commentary from Blake, focusing on the tension between human passions and societal expectations.In her analysis of the poem for the journal "The Explicator", academic Katelin E. Trowbridge describes the poem's narratorial voice as a projection of "his own passionate voice" about the subject of pleasure and social expectations.Trowbridge focuses on the Girl's fall from innocence as one of the poem's critical moments, where she can experience the pleasures of sexual relations with her lover but in turn feels guilt when confronted by her father.