' ” Where are thy father and mother ? Say ? “ ' , which is replied to by the chimney sweep. ' “ They are both gone up to the church to pray... They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King, Who make up a heaven of our misery. “ '
If Blake put his beliefs into the child's voice, then he could be challenging his death by looking at the King in a negative way. I think this shows how strongly he believed in this corruption, to the extent that he would be willing to die for it.
He also implies that God, the Priest and King made up Heaven, that it's non-existent, but is there to give the people hope from their live shrouded in misery.
In the Songs of Innocence the boys feel included by God, and they feel quite close to him.
' And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father, and never want joy. '
In the bible, God is seen as being the Father. In this poem it dictates that if Tom was a good boy then God would become his father and make sure that he is happy. This completely contradicts the poem from Songs of Innocence – in the Songs of Experience, it seems that the chimney sweep has a bad view of God, and doesn't want to be close to him. In the Songs of Innocence however, the chimney sweep views God very highly. However, in the entirety of the poem, religion isn't mentioned, only God, and there's a direct connection.
' And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open'd the coffins and set them all free; Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. '
The Angel freed them from their coffins and then they could play. There isn't a mention of religion or church, and the relationship to the Angel is direct. This could be because the Songs of Innocence is set from a naïve child's point of view, when they might not yet know about religion, but they know about God, and they think that they can be in direct contact with God, rather than go to church and have to use religion to be close to him.
In the Songs of Innocence's Chimney Sweeper, the boys play in heaven, and it's a reward for being good. In the Songs of Experience's Chimney Sweeper, they get punished for playing.
' Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winter's snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death '
The clothes that he would have to wear to sweep chimneys could be described as his death clothes, because he would either die because of them, or die in them. So, just because he was happy, it seems that they punished him, and are banishing him to his death.
