Chimney Sweeper Songs of Innocence and Experience: William Blake
- Submitted by: asiaa21
- Views: 734
- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 08/12/2013 01:57 AM
- Pages: 3
- Report this Essay
William Blake's Chimney Sweeper Songs of Innocence and Experience.Everyone is eventually exposed to various types of experiences that result to different consequences such as the loss of an individual’s innocence. William Blake explores this theory through his poems ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ in both ‘Songs of Innocence’ and ‘Songs of Experience’ as he somewhat protests against the living and working conditions as well as the overall treatment of the young chimney sweeps as at the time many viewed the children as subhuman creatures and not having a place within society.
Blake’s poem ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ from ‘Songs of Innocence’ illustrates the life of a young boy who was sold by his father to become a chimney sweeper and lives a harsh life, yet he does not have an understanding of the social injustice he is enduring. An example of this is seen through first person narration in the quote ‘And my father sold me yet my tongue, Could scarcely cry weep weep…’ this quote further supports the fact that the subject is unaware of the injustice placed upon him by his father reflecting the child’s innocence as the persona is convinced that what he is being made to do is ‘normal’ and does not yet realise how immoral it is to place such duties upon a child. The poet’s effective use of alliteration through the line ‘So your chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep’ gives the audience both a literal image of the boy’s living conditions as well as a metaphorical image showing that whilst he may not sleep in soot he still lives in very poor conditions. The technique of symbolism ‘Were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black’ represents the common death that was surrounded by the chimney sweeps whilst in the chimneys. Through the poetic technique of imagery in the fourth stanza, ‘And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open’d the coffins & set them all free’ Blake conveys a peaceful image for the responder of what the boys are longing as the tone of the poem has now become...
Blake’s poem ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ from ‘Songs of Innocence’ illustrates the life of a young boy who was sold by his father to become a chimney sweeper and lives a harsh life, yet he does not have an understanding of the social injustice he is enduring. An example of this is seen through first person narration in the quote ‘And my father sold me yet my tongue, Could scarcely cry weep weep…’ this quote further supports the fact that the subject is unaware of the injustice placed upon him by his father reflecting the child’s innocence as the persona is convinced that what he is being made to do is ‘normal’ and does not yet realise how immoral it is to place such duties upon a child. The poet’s effective use of alliteration through the line ‘So your chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep’ gives the audience both a literal image of the boy’s living conditions as well as a metaphorical image showing that whilst he may not sleep in soot he still lives in very poor conditions. The technique of symbolism ‘Were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black’ represents the common death that was surrounded by the chimney sweeps whilst in the chimneys. Through the poetic technique of imagery in the fourth stanza, ‘And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open’d the coffins & set them all free’ Blake conveys a peaceful image for the responder of what the boys are longing as the tone of the poem has now become...