Furthermore, Blake places in the poems are the concept of losing and holding on to faith and hope which make up the virtues of innocence. The first chimney sweeper poem discusses gaining divine compensation for the suffering that these boys go through on Earth. Even though, the conditions are dismal and will bring certain death, the sweepers should still have hope they will make it to Heaven. The thought of this promise is able to shield the sweepers from being consumed by sorrow which is presented in Tom Dacre’s dream. Unlike, the poem in Songs of Innocence, The Chimney Sweeper in Song of Experience is much darker on purpose. Blake wanted to show what happens when humans do not possess the virtues of faith and hope. For example, the poem opens
This is interpreted as losing faith in heaven, God and King George III. It is very clever that he brings up those titles because if God, and the King are worthy of praise, why would they allow this suffering to go on. This is why the second narrator does not see himself gaining the divine compensations of peace, joy, and playfulness in Heaven. Recall, that the soot makes the boys dirty, and the representation for the soot is sin. Specifically, society’s sin which comes from various sources like the parents, chimney masters, and the British monarchy as well. The child is not only mocking God, the king and the church, but society as a whole when it seem that everyone benefitted from his anguish. The boys were not allowed to wash their figurative sin and thus, the soot got stuck to their skin. In the Songs of Innocence version the narrator thinks that society even accepts it. The text actually references some of these social figures, when in Songs of Innocence the narrator says “Your chimneys,” and it is a reference to the middle class who want to have the luxury of life at the expense of someone’s
Michael James McClard wrote in Making a Heaven of the Innocents’ Misery: William Blake’s “Chimney Sweeper” Poems that “Blake’s purpose in this poem is to call attention to the plight of these children, yet two comments in the poem’s final section seem to endorse the system that is causing them harm,” (15). When the narrator talks about the soot not being able to stain Tom hair he is trying to persuade Tom to somehow keep on the virtues of limitations which are faith and hope. The reason being is that it is the only way to gain entry into Heaven and accept the spiritual rewards. However, the poem ends with the last stanza “With our bags and our brushes to work tho’ the morning was cold,” (line 22-23). At that point the hope and the faith seem be gone, and another day of working in the chimney looms for the sweepers because they have subconsciously accepted their exploitation at the hands of an oppressive system. They are also under the impression they can gain salvation through
From childhood he was unlike those around him. He went to school to study art and found his love of poetry. From his early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions. He spoke of seeing God and the Angels. He married his with Catherine Boucher in 1782. His brother, Robert died, but this is where Blake got a lot of inspiration for his work. In 1789 Blake wrote and illustrated the popular Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in 1794. His poetry was extremely non-conformist and focused on imagination, rather than reason. Both works have many common parallels and themes. His poetry also deals with the common aspect of a romanticism work; it has moments of sin, suffering and salvation. In Songs of Innocence, The Chimney Sweeper, it is a heartbreaking poem about the young children that were forced into doing labor as chimneysweepers. Mostly because they were the only ones small enough to fit in the spaces and they were sold into that work. It was damaging and cruel how they treated these children and Blake writes about it in such a powerful way. In the first stanza alone the reader learns about the difficult life and the suffering this child has had to overcome, “When my mother died when I was young, my father sold me while yet my tongue…so, your Chimney’s I sweep and in soot I sleep.” (Songs of Innocence) This poor child is portrayed so innocently and gentle, yet leads this suffering unfortunate life. People treated
In Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789 and 1794), William Blake arouses readers' minds and leads them into a path of finding their own answers and conclusions to his poems. He sets up his poems in the first book, Songs of Innocence, with a few questions as if they were asked from a child's perspective since children are considered the closest representation of innocence in life. However, in the second book, Songs of Experience, Blake's continues to write his poems about thought-provoking concepts except the concepts happen to be a little bit more complex and relevant to experience and time than Songs of Innocence.
Starting with the first stanza, Blake creates a dark and depressing tone. He uses words such as died, weep, soot, and cry to support this tone. In the first two lines the child shares his family with us, stating his mother’s death and the fact that his father sold him sharing that the child must come from a poor background “When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue”(Lines 1-2). The image of a poor child getting tossed into another unhappy place sets the tone for the beginning of this poem. Blake uses the word “weep”, instead of “sweep” in the first stanza to show the innocence of the child “Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep”(3). The fact that the child cried “weep” instead of sweep shows that the child could not be any older than four. Blake describes that they sleep in soot also meaning they are sleeping in their death bed. The average life span of children who work in chimneys is ten years due to the harsh work environment. The child portrays sorrow in the last line of the first stanza “So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”(4)
Abstract: William Blake's Songs of Innocence contains a group of poetic works that the artist conceptualized as entering into a dialogue with each other and with the works in his companion work, Songs of Experience. He also saw each of the poems in Innocence as operating as part of an artistic whole creation that was encompassed by the poems and images on the plates he used to print these works. While Blake exercised a fanatical degree of control over his publications during his lifetime, after his death his poems became popular and were encountered without the contextual material that he intended to accompany them.
Though this poem mainly describes the suffering of these children, William Blake wrote another poem also titled “The Chimney Sweeper” where he described how as these chimney-sweepers grew older, they began to realize how they were taken advantage of and how the promises of the Church were all just a big hoax. From these two poems, it can be inferred that Blake intentionally pointed out and revealed the malfeasance of the Church and society and how they exploited younger children due to their gullibility and innocence solely for the economy without having any regard for the children’s lives.
William Blake presents two poems both titled The Chimney Sweeper, but both have a different perspective. The first poem that Blake wrote titled The Chimney Sweeper comes from Blake’s book Songs of Innocence and comes from the perspective of an innocent and ignorant mind. The second poem titled The Chimney Sweeper, was included in Blake’s book Songs of Experience and has a matured perspective. Blake utilizes both versions of The Chimney Sweeper in order to present his social critique of society. I believe that William Blake’s Songs of Experience version of The Chimney Sweeper presents social criticism better than Songs of Innocence version of The Chimney Sweeper because Songs of Experience articulates an outspoken and direct criticism of child labour while Songs of Innocence criticism is more implicit.
The idea of the child’s innocence is shown through their interactions with others and their descriptions in both of these writers’ poems. For example, in the introduction to “Songs of Innocence” the interaction between the child and the narrator depicts the amount of innocence he has for laughing and enjoying life up in a tree while telling the narrator to write about merry cheer and the Lamb. This example shows innocence because innocent children are usually the happiest for they do not know as many of the horrors of life yet. The child being in a tree relates to Wordsworth’s religious view of being one with nature and how children are delightful and free. Another example of childhood innocence, is in William Blake’s poem “Holy Thursday” he refers to the children as innocent looking and having clean faces. When the children are described as being clean or having something of the color white that usually means purity and innocence. Since Blake wrote many of his passages on religion, the color white also has to do with the purity of the soul and being free from sin. Another example of this would be in “The Chimney Sweeper” when the little boy lost his white hair, this refers to the child losing his innocence or
In his work, Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, William Blake uses the aforementioned contrasting states of being to illustrate his unique view of the world around him. Through this work, Blake lays bare his soulful views of religion and ethics, daring the reader to continue on in their narcissistic attitudes and self-serving politics. While Blake's work had countless themes, some of the most prevalent were religious reform, social change, and morality. Philosophically, one would think that William Blake was a Deist; however Blake rejected the Deist view of life. He was a devout Christian, yet he also wanted nothing to do with the church or their teachings. These views give Blake a refreshingly sincere quality with regards to his art and writings. Blake frequently alluded to Biblical teachings in his work and, more often than not, used corresponding story lines to rail against the Church's views and accepted practices. One may say however, that Blake's universal appeal lies within his social commentary. Similar to a fable, Blake weaves a poetically mystical journey for the reader, usually culminating in a moral lesson. One such poem, "A Poison Tree," clearly illustrates some of William Blake's moral beliefs. With his use of imagery, as well as an instinctive knowledge of human nature, William Blake shows just how one goes from the light to the darkness (from innocence to experience) by the repression of emotions.
It is in lines 10 – 24 that the poem becomes one of hope. For when Blake writes “As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins and set them all free;” Blake’s words ring true of hope for the sw...
The imagery of nature and humanity intermingling presents Blake's opinion on the inborn, innate harmony between nature and man. The persona of the poem goes on to express the `gentle streams beneath our feet' where `innocence and virtue meet'. This is where innocence dwells: synchronization with nature, not synchronization with industry where `babes are reduced to misery, fed with a cold usurous hand' as in the experienced version of `Holy Thursday'. The concept of the need for the individual's faithfulness to the laws of nature and what is natural is further reiterated in `the marriage of heaven and hell' in plate 10 where Blake states `where man is not, nature is barren'. The most elevated form of nature is human nature and when man resists and consciously negates nature, `nature' becomes `barren'. Blake goes on to say `sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'. This harks back to `the Songs of Innocence' `A Cradle Song' where the `infants smiles are his own smiles'. The infant is free to act out its desires as it pleases. It is unbound, untainted. Blake's concern is for the pallid and repressed, subjugated future that awaits the children who must `nurse unacted desires' and emotions in this new world of industrialisation. Despairingly, this is restated again in `the mind-forg'd manacles' of `London'. The imagery of the lambs of the `Songs of Innocence' `Introduction' is developed in `the Chimney Sweeper' into the image of `Little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, that curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd'.
In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake differentiates between being experienced and being innocent. In the poem "Spring," the speaker focuses on the coming of spring and the excitement surrounding it which is emphasized by the trochaic meter of the poem. Everyone, including the animals and children, is joyful and getting ready for the new season, a season of rebirth and a new arrival of nature’s gifts.
It starts out with a child being sold by his father after the mother died to be a chimney sweeper. Blake goes on to describe the horrors conditions, "So your chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep", as a way to show that a child cleans the chimneys and at night sleeps in the soot. Blake discusses a boy named Tom crying because he got his head shaved. They did this was because soot got in their hair and built up which caused problems for the children when working. The children never lasted long in chimney sweeping due to the soot getting into their lungs or even betting trapped inside. He tells about how many children died and what they did with them by saying, "That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned or Jack . Were all of them lock 'd up in coffins black". He continues on by saying the child saw an angel who unlocked all of the children 's coffins and set them free to heaven like Jesus rose up on the third day. They left all their mortal possessions behind since they no longer needed them and went up in the sky to heaven. In the bible God sent down angels to deliver messages like the one did in this poem. The angel tells Tom that if he 's a good boy, God will be his father and he will never want joy again. Uplifted by this Tom was happy and continued to do his job without fearing of getting
In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults are placed in opposition of one another. Blake portrays childhood as a time of optimism and positivity, of heightened connection with the natural world, and where joy is the overpowering emotion. This joyful nature is shown in Infant Joy, where the speaker, a newborn baby, states “’I happy am,/ Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5) The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blake’s larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blake’s portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism. Blake’s child saw the most cheerful aspects of the natural wo...
William Blake, born on November 28, 1757, in London is one of the greatest English poets. His work is studied today all over the world. One of Blake’s poems, “The Chimney Sweeper”, shows many signs of immortality. In this poem, immortality can only be reached by maintaining hope in a hopeless world and embracing happiness. An example of this is line 20: “He’d have God for his father, and never want joy”. Immortality is something people have chased for years and have never been able to capture. In Webster’s dictionary, immortality is stated as, “Not mortal, deathless, living or lasting forever.” In “The Chimney Sweeper”, Blake saw immortality in a different sense than Webster states. Blake saw immortality as happiness throughout life and the importance of hope.
The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence) is told from the point of view of a young chimney sweeper, this persona is put on by the poet and is established in the opening stanza when the boy says "So your chimneys I sweep..." this poem is almost told in the form of a narrative and it is about a young boy telling of how his mother died and it does not mention any other details of her death other than the fact that she perished while he was very young. Then, it is said that his father sold him into slavery “while yet my tongue could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!” this ultimately makes the audience feel very sympatric toward the boy and we can see that he has accepted his lot in life. But, this is also the first place in the poem where the opposing attitudes of the chimney sweeper and the poet are present. Initially, upon reading the poem all the reader thinks of is the poor little boy, but here the poet is being sarcastic as he is saying the boy was made into a chimney sweep before he could even say the word “sweep” in the case that the s- sound was left off and the word left his mouth as “ ‘weep” which is also why the he uses the repetition of the word to emphasize the child’s misery while im...