The two poems ' The Chimney Sweeper', were written by William Blake.
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.
"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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"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' has references to the words 'white' and 'bright'. White is an image of good, clean, joyful freedom and is used a number of times throughout the poem. White is also used in the poem to show to show a religious idea. 'Naked and white' portrays an image of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and expresses an idea of freedom and innocence.
Even though the poem is about young children being forced to work as chimneysweepers, there are references in it that are soft and calm. The poem shows images of fun and 'laughing'. A soft image from the poem is where William Blake refers to a 'lamb's back' to show Tom Dacre 's hair being shaved off. This image helps to show that Blake is trying to make the best he can of a horrible time and experience for little Tom Dacre.
"And by came an angel who had a bright key,
And opened the coffins and set them all free."
This shows resurrection and religious understanding, however does not mention the church. The church is not mentioned at all during the poem. The 'angel' shows religion and goodness as does 'bright', which gives a view of kindness and being inviting. 'Open the coffins' shows power over the earthly happenings, a God like image almost, 'set them all free' this is definitely showing freedom from a bad life, resurrection, taking them to heaven where they are 'leaping' and 'laughing'.
The poem also on line 16 says about washing. Washing is a way of cleansing.
"Wash in the river."
This shows an image of baptism, washing in the river, like being baptised by John the Baptist in the river. This shows cleansing and beginning again, being free and innocent again having fun and 'laughing' together with friends with no worries!
"...and shine in the sun."
Shine and sun show goodness. The sun shining on you makes you feel warm and protective. This could almost show an image of someone looking out for you and making sure you are happy, a God like figure. 'Sun' could also be interpreted to 'son' as in Son of God, Jesus. This would explain the warmth and feeling of protection. If something is shining and bright you feel happy and protected compared to when something is dark and cold. Furthermore this poem says that the 'angel told Tom' that if he'd be a 'good boy' then 'he'd have God for his father and never want joy'.
To have 'God for his father' shows that he would be going to heaven and becoming an angel, there he would be looked after by God and would 'never want joy' as he would have everything he needs to be happy forever.
The last verse of the poem is very strong. This verse gives a good clear and vivid ending to the poem getting the point given across.
"And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags and our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm."
"Rose in the dark," this gives an image of young boys having to wake up before sunrise on a cold winters morning to do what they are forced to do. These boys are off 'to work' early in the morning at a very young age probably the oldest of them being about ten years old.
"Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm" as he had the dream which told him just to be happy in life and do what he must and "so if all do their duty, they need not fear harm" shows God will adopt them and make them safe forever.
This poem uses third person and names a lot throughout giving a personal view allowing the reader to feel as though he knows Tom Dacre and his friends and can relate with them.
In conclusion of the poem the tone is very happy and optimistic. This poem offers life in its images of resurrection and happiness of the boy. He puts on a brave face and tries to be as up beat as possible, but he still does not enjoy his work and is looking forward to going to heaven and having 'God for his father'.
In the later version of the poem, 'Songs of Experience', things are more unhappy and harsh.
At the start of the poem there is an unpleasant image of 'A little black thing among the snow' this is not a nice image, the 'little black thing' is reference to a little child covered in soot due to the fact it is a chimneysweeper. 'Little black thing' shows insignificance and no hope for the child. The 'snow' shows a cold image of the surroundings and also the life of the young chimneysweep.
This poem shows crying,
"weep! weep!" It is used negatively in this poem and is followed by "in notes of woe!" This is evidence that things are bad and unhappy.
This poem shows images of church. The poem asks about the child's parents and replies;
"They are both gone up to church to pray."
The reference to church in this part is brief. It also gives an image of a bad church, the child is crying for its mother and father and they have gone off to church and left their child in a bad, unhappy state as a chimneysweep, they probably sold him.
This poem gives a bad view of life and gives a death like image. There is no hope portrayed in this poem. It is very pessimistic. This poem is full of misery and does not show joy.
The image in this poem is just because he puts on a brave face and acts "happy upon the heath" is not to say that he actually is. You feel sorry for the child.
In line 7 things become very unhappy and he talks of being "cloth'd in the "clothes of death" and being "taught" to "sing the notes of woe." This gives a very clear, unpleasant image and makes the reader feel sickened by the thought of what the poor child is going through. It is very easy to relate to the feelings of the child.
This poem gives an image from the Old Testament where God does not forgive and people believe you get what you give. In the Old Testament it says "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." This shows no redemption, a God that allows harsh punishment for your crimes.
Whereas the first poem uses different elements, this one only uses one element, the earth, suggesting loneliness and unhappiness. Only suggesting Earth almost demolishes the idea of a Great Holy Being, such as God.
'Songs of Experience' offers a harsh image such as colours of 'black' and 'cold' and 'misery' and 'woe'. These images give the negative, dark, unhappy tone of the poem. These views of life show no happiness and the want for death, this makes you feel sorry for the chimneysweep.
This poem uses mostly first person making the reader think that the poem is actually written by the chimneysweep, it allows you to adopt his feelings.
Blake being against the church has made that point of view come across in this poem. The last verse portrays this well as well as the meaning of the poem.
"And because I am happy & dance & sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his priest & King,
Who makes up a heaven of our misery."
This shows that the feelings towards the church are of an unhappy tone. This is saying that the church makes 'misery'.
I believe that he is trying to sat that the adults will allow their children to live in poverty and die, however they will go to church as it is thought to be the right thing to do. This has nothing to do with religion, but wealth and manner.
In conclusion the two poems get across the point of poverty and a corrupt church. They both express the images in different ways. Blake gets his point across well as a result of the way that he has written the poems. Blake has used clever images to show his view. He uses similes, repetition, colour, senses and elements to get his point across to the reader and he does it well, giving an accurate image for each of the two versions of the poem.