In William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, many of the poems correlate in numerous aspects. For example, The Chimney Sweeper is a key poem in both collections that portrays the soul of a child

However, in Songs of Experience, the outlook on life and death is not so joyful.  The religious imagery is not so much as in Songs of Innocence, possibly because people tend to believe more religiously when innocence dominates terrible experiences.  In the latter poem, however, the “little black thing” has been “clothed in the clothes of death” by his parents forcing him to become a chimney sweeper.  His parents have “gone to praise God and his Priest and King, who make up a heaven of our misery” and the boy cannot understand this as he “sings the notes of woe” and not happiness.  This chimney sweeper does not have the innocence and hopefulness of the chimney sweeper in Songs of Innocence.  This child possesses experience of hardship and does not hold much faith in God and religion.  This version of The Chimney Sweeper lacks the hopefulness and faith found in the former version although it is the same setting, factors, and occupation.

William Blake conveys both innocence and experience with the literary technique of light versus dark imagery.  In Songs of Innocence, Blake discusses the issue of soot on several instances.  In the beginning verse, the young chimney sweeper slept in soot, showing the incorruptibility and despair of the young child.  Also, Tom Dacre’s “white hair” was shaved so that the dark soot or ash could not catch his hair on fire.  This act illustrates the purity and innocence of the naïve neophyte chimney sweeper.  The loss of his pure, “white” hair also attempts to steal his purity and allow him to view death and experience the despair of the real world.  The deceased chimney sweepers were in “coffins of black,” portraying the hellish aspect of death until the Angel frees them.  After their liberation, the spirits are then “naked and white” with “all their bags left behind,” showing the fresh cleanliness of their again innocent souls on their way to heaven with no reservations to plague them.  In Songs of Experience, the chimney sweeper is a “little black thing among the snow,” portraying a lost, youthful boy with awareness of the devastation of the real world.  The boy is much more knowledgeable of the current situations than other youth of his age, simply because of his profession.  The portrayal of the “black thing” among the snow conveys that the chimney sweepers still possess their innocence despite the evil darkness of their surroundings.  The remaining innocence is a similarity between the two poems, yet the experience of the latter chimney sweep supersedes the experience of the former chimney sweep.

In conclusion, the reasoning behind William Blake’s usage of the chimney sweep in itself is clear.  The innocence of a young child is an idea that every person can easily relate to and sympathize with.  The naïve young boy can easily contrast with a youth that has experienced the devastation of the surroundings, although the innocence of the young chimney sweep would also mature into awareness eventually.  Blake’s usage of religion, light versus dark imagery, and the figure of the chimney sweep illustrate the ideas of innocence versus experience wonderfully.