The two poems ' The Chimney Sweeper', were written by William Blake.

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The Chimney Sweeper

The two poems ' The Chimney Sweeper', were written by William Blake. The two poems are telling the life of 'chimneysweepers'. 'Songs of Innocence' shows optimistic views and 'Songs of Experience' shows pessimistic views.

William Blake lived during the great upheaval, the Industrial Revolution. This was a period of immense social, political and cultural change in many areas of the world. William Blake was a devout Christian, however he did not attend church due to the fact that he thought it to be corrupt. I believe this to be the reason why he wrote these two poems to put his views of the Industrial Revolution and religion across.

I believe that William Blake wrote these poems to show his view and the way of life which he did not agree with.

The two versions of the 'Chimney Sweeper' poem 'Songs of Experience' and 'Songs of Innocence' both aim to give a strong view and image to the reader. Both poems have a reference to crying, "weep! weep! and weep! weep! weep! Weep! Notice the capital W on the last weep! From 'Songs of Innocence', this is aimed to give emphasis to the feeling of the chimneysweep and to hold a vivid image in the eye of the reader.

Secondly, the two poems also both have references to religion, however the views on religion are different in each poem, as are the types of Christianity. From 'Songs of Innocence', we see a New Testament view and from 'Songs of Experience' we see an Old Testament view.

Thirdly, the settings of both poems are similar, as they both seem to be set in winter. This is shown in 'Songs of Innocence' on line 23 where Tom awakes and sets off in the 'cold'. In 'Songs of Experience," there is a reference to 'snow' also showing winter.

Furthermore both poems are written in first person, giving direct speech and allowing the reader to sympathise and empathise with the 'Chimneysweeps'.

Finally the children's plight in each poem is the same, however the first poem, 'Songs of Innocence' expresses the children's plight in a positive way. In the 'Songs of Experience' the children's plight is portrayed in a very negative way.

The earlier version of the poem is known as 'Songs of Innocence'. The tone of this poem is positive and has an optimistic view. The earlier poem gives views of hope and joy. This poem shows a belief that as long as you do what you are supposed to do in life then you will be rewarded in heaven and this is what the chimneysweepers believe in the earlier poem. In this poem Tom Dacre sees goodness in everything. The poet makes everything optimistic.
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"Hush Tom! Never mind it, for when your head's bare

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

This shows that even though it is sad for him to have his lovely hair shaved off, there is a positive point to it.

'Songs of Innocence' shows forgiveness and gentleness, from this we can understand the link with the God in the New Testament as he forgives and forgets. The New Testament says, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us", showing kindness and forgiveness.

'Songs of Innocence' ...

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