William Blake Diction

William Blake was a British poet and visual artist who lived from 1757-1827. He was seen as a mad man by many people of his time, and so his literary work was largely unappreciated. However, an “elect few” understood and enjoyed his work, and today he is widely known as “a seminal figure in the history of poetry of the Romantic Age.” Blake wrote the “Chimney Sweeper” poems to demonstrate his society’s wrongs and ills in what seemed like children’s literature. He often provided illustrations to go with his poems, but the imagery is so strong in these poems that a visual illustration almost isn’t needed. While the general imagery is similar in these poems, the details in style are different, and therefore create a slight contrast between the

The syntax in the poems is very similar in that the stanzas are almost always made up of one, long sentence. The only exception to that statement is the first stanza of the second poem; it is made up of two sentences. The lines also often start with the word “and,” which helps with the pacing and rhythm of the pieces. The diction in the poems is similar as well. The poems use similar wording likely because of the poems’ similar setting. The similar setting also creates similar imagery between the two pieces. The author talks about the soot, the darkness, and the sadness to create a dreary picture of late-18th-century London. The rhyme in the poems is similar in that they both use the “AABB” rhyming pattern at times. However, the second poem uses “AABB” in only the first stanza, and then turns to using the “ABAB” pattern for the rest of of the piece. Finally, the meter between the poems is very similar. They both use Anapest Meter. However, the first poem uses Anapest Meter throughout, while the second poem somewhat turns to Dactyl Meter. At a glance, one might think the two poems are very similar given their near identical title and setting, but the two poems are surprisingly different. While these poems beautiful from a literary standpoint, these poems are a valuable source of information on child labor in London in the late 18th century, from a historical standpoint. These poems by William Blake are quite