With close reference to between four and six poems, explore Blake's presentation of childhood and society.

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Elinor Llewellyn

UVI JAD

With close reference to between four and six poems, explore Blake’s presentation of childhood and society.

Although perhaps its is Blake’s more majestic poems such as ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘The Tiger’ that he is best known for, the themes of childhood and society run through a large number of his works. In both the Songs of Innocence and Experience, there are many poems which describe different aspects of childhood, and also take an often critical look at the society in which Blake was living in. Many of these poems, which could at first seem simpler, also have more philosophical undertone to illustrate other points, creating an atmosphere just as powerful as the imposing language in his better known poems.

An example of these profundities being demonstrated through an outwardly innocent topic is in the poem of ‘The Schoolboy’. Here Blake takes on the persona of a young boy, and describes his school life. The first few stanzas portray a tranquil scene with the calling of birds, and how “the huntsman winds his horn”, ending with a delighted cry, “Oh! What sweet company”. However this peaceful image is shattered as the poem progresses, and when detailing the education of the boy, Blake uses the metaphor of a bird, “born for joy”, having to “sit in a cage and sing”. Through such images, and other pessimistic language such as “dreary”, “drooping”, and “many an anxious hour”, Blake clearly displays his distaste and disapproval of the schooling system. The poem becomes increasingly dark and into an outlet for Blake’s true opinions of the implications of education: “if buds are nipped…if the tender plants are stripped”. Also by addressing the possible reader, “O father and mother”, the poet is trying to make a significant impact on society, and attack those who cause the distress that he sees such children undergoing.

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It is not only in the education system that Blake observes children being abused by society. In ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ poems of ‘Innocence’ and ‘Experience’, Blake describes the hard and dangerous work of the children who are sent up to clean the chimneys. In ‘Songs of Innocence’, the voice of one of the sweeps themselves is used to portray the tragic lives that these youngsters lead; how their parents sell them when they can “scarcely cry ‘weep weep weep weep’”, how their hair is shaved and how “in soot (they) sleep”. By using specific details such as names and speech, ...

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