Blake is appalled by the cruelty to children that is going on. He mentions “Infants” twice in the poem, both saying that they are crying. “How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new born Infants tear”
This shows that there were a lot of unwanted children at the time because of prostitution at a young age. The fact that young girls were on the streets also shows that life was hard because they were not being kept at home, or were sent out to get money for the family, and this was their last resort.
In the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” Blake describes the life of a young boy who is a chimney sweeper.
In the first verse of the poem Blake uses alliteration, “So your chimneys I sweep, & in soot I sleep.” The repetition of ‘s’ and ‘p’ sounds reinforces the feeling of sadness by sounds that mimic the cries of the boy. This shows that the boy was not happy being a chimney sweeper.
Blake uses a simile “like a lambs back” to show the innocence that the boy, Tom, had. He also uses direct speech, which makes this part of the poem more personal. “Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.” Blake says that the boy has white hair because it portrays an image of innocence. It also relates to angels. This is also reflected when Blake writes “naked and white” He uses this picture to show that Tom was pure and natural, and was now free from the soot of the chimneys.
When Tom is having a vision in “The Chimney Sweeper” an Angel comes to him, this is a figure of God.
“Then down a green plain leaping, and laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.”
Green plains, sun and rivers are all very natural and free and are completely different to the factories and buildings that they are used to. Laughing is what children naturally do, the chimney sweepers had probably never laughed before because they were so down from all the work that they had to do. This too, shows that they are happy and free.
“ all their bags left behind.” Could mean two things. Literally, it means that they have left all their equipment that they use for chimney sweeping behind. Or it could mean that they have left all their worries behind them and are no longer worrying.
It says in the poem that if Tom was a “good boy, He’d have God for his father, & never want joy.” This means that if he prayed, read the Bible and was religious, he would always be happy and would never want anything because he would already have it.
The next morning, Tom was “happy and warm” although it was a very cold day. This is because Tom knew that he would be ok, and he had, had a vision and seen God.
“So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.” Their duty would be to stay pure and be faithful to God. The children had nobody to look after them other than God; this was their only choice. If they stayed true to God, their life would always be good.
In the 1950’s children should have had a fair chance in life. They had the Welfare State, (introduced in 1945) which meant that there was social security, child benefit, free health, education, dentists, opticians etc. Children should not have been unhealthy or without what they needed. However, this was not always the case. Some parents genuinely did not care about their children and what happened to them. Wendy Cope, and Charles Causley shows this in their two poems “Tich Miller” and “Timothy Winters”.
The poem “Tich Miller” does not have a set rhyming pattern, which makes the poem seem more real and serious. This poem is also told in the first person, this makes it more personal.
The title of “Tich Miller” instantly gives the image of somebody who is small. This was probably due to lack of a proper diet and vitamins.
Tich had “elastoplast-pink frames” as glasses, and “and had one foot three sizes larger than the other.” Both of these statements hint at neglect because glasses were free on the NHS for anybody under the age of 16, and having a clubfoot was often lack of nutrition.
In the second verse of the poem, there is an image of being trapped or caged in “by the wire mesh fence” while they are waiting to be picked in P.E. They avoid each other’s eyes because they are embarrassed and if the look at each other they will be forced to admit they are outcasts if they do. The two girls were both picked on at school, for being either “tubby” or small.
When Wendy Cope mentions “affecting interest in the flight of some fortunate bird” she is saying that the bird is free and not caged in like her and Tich are. She wishes she could be like the bird and not have any disability that is stopping her from doing things.
“Usually they chose me, the lesser dud.” A dud was an unexploded bomb that was no good and had no use. When Wendy Cope says that she was the lesser dud, she is saying that she had a bit more use than Tich, and that Tich was not needed at all. Tich “lolloped, unselected to the back of the other team” this was because of her clubfoot. Because of this, she was automatically drawing attention to herself because she could not walk properly.
The two girls went to different schools after primary, Wendy Cope went to Grammar, and Tich went to 11 plus. Wendy learned to cope with the harshness of school life, but “Tich died when she was twelve”. This could have been down to neglect and not being looked after properly, a lack of support and a proper diet.
This is a very dramatic ending that suddenly stops the reader and makes them think.
In the poem “Timothy Winters” it shows the same sort of story for a child who should not be in the state they are.
There are a lot of references to the war; “Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters: A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.” This is because they have only just come out of World War II and there are still things going on that shouldn’t be. The dentist is free, so he should be able to go, but he never does, this is most likely to be because his family do not care about what happens to him.
The simile “eyes as wide as a football-pool” gives the impression of a cheap primary school. It sounds like there is nothing expensive that the boy owns. He himself is not worth anything, let alone anything he owns.
His “belly is white” because he never gets the sun and “his neck is black” because he never washes. Timothy Winters also has holes in his trousers and has no shoes. “Timothy Winters has bloody feet” and “through his britches the blue winds blow” This is probably because his parents cannot be bothered to go out and get him some proper clothes that are essential.
Timothy Winters has “not even heard of the Welfare State” even though he is the one that it is for. He does not realise that he should not be in the state he his because everything is provided for him. This is shown when it says in the poem “they say there aren’t boys like him anymore” This is because everything is there for children and they should not be allowed to get into that sort of situation. The fact that he can get free health care and free dentist appointments does not occur to him and he does not know that this help is available to him.
Timothy Winters “Old Man” likes a bit to drink and so does his Grandma who “sits in the grate with a gin” this means that Timothy was probably for the whole of his life surrounded by his drunk Grandma and alcoholic dad.
At the end of the poem when the children are saying a prayer for children who are less fortunate than themselves, Timothy Winters seems to be praying for himself because there is not many people that will be worse off than him, this is quite ironic; Timothy does not realise that he is praying for himself and therefore does not know who he is praying for.
These last two poems are similar in quite a few ways. Both the children that the poems are about are very unfortunate and have got into a state that they shouldn’t because of neglect. Neither of their parents bothers to take them to the dentist or the opticians even though it is free.
The four poems are all alike in a sense that the children that they are writing about have/had a hard childhood. There is one direct comparison between Blake’s poems and the poems by Charles Causley and Wendy Cope; this is when it says that Timothy Winters “sleeps in a sack on the kitchen floor.” This is the same as the children that Blake writes about because he does not have a proper bed to sleep in.
Blake often refers to God in his poems “And the Angel told Tom”, there is also references to God in the poem “Timothy Winters” at the end when they are praying and saying “Amen” and talking about Angels.
Tich Miller was bullied in school and this is the main theme of the poem, whereas it does not say in “Timothy Winters” that he was bullied but just concentrated on his appearance and personality.
In the Blake poems children were not looked after properly and were just put to work as soon as they were old enough. In the other two poems both the children were neglected and not looked after despite the fact that they could get help due to the Welfare State.
All four poems gave a huge impression on what life was like for children years ago, how they were left alone and had to fend for themselves. Although when Blake’s poems were written children had to work and get money for themselves and the family, some also had to when the second two poems were written even though they shouldn’t have because there was help for them.
The Welfare State did help a lot of children when it was introduced, but some children’s parents did not take any notice of what it stood for and the fact that their children could get free health care and education. This is shown in the second two poems by what a bad state Tich Miller and Timothy Winters were in.