William Blake Was an English Poet, Painter,

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker whose works continue to influence readers today. His collection of illuminated poems contained in one of his most well-known works, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, provide opposing views in this set of poems, Blake helps to expose what he thought was innocent and how experience changes these view. In "The Chimney Sweeper," a poem contained in both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experiences, Blake presents the views of two boys, one who does not know the nature of man, and the other, who knows all too well.

"The Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Innocence provides a light interpretation of a chimney sweep's life. The narrator is reassuring of the work they do, and does not focus on the negative aspects of the job. The narrator describes the chimney sweep's chant as "weep, weep, weep," an indication that the chimney sweep is too young to correctly formulate the word "sweep." The word "weep" can also be interpreted literally, a call for the public to weep for the chimneysweepers whose jobs, though a source of income, are also a death sentence. The narrator also uses heavenly and religious descriptors to indicate the sweepers' innocence. Tom Dacre, a chimneysweeper in the poem, is described as having "white hair…that curl'd like a lamb's back" (Blake, 26). The narrator furthermore expounds heavenly aspects of innocence as he dreams "that thousands of sweepers…were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black" until an angel "open'd the coffins & set them all free" (26). This allegory parallels religious contexts in which Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven. The freed chimneysweepers are described angelically as they are dreamt of "leaping" and "laughing/And washing in a river and shine in the Sun/Then naked & white…They rise upon clouds" (26).

"The Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Experience portrays a different view of the life of a chimneysweeper. Whereas "The Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Innocence looks to the future reward of peace and comfort in eternity, "The Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Experience focuses on the present discomforts of the job. He is described as a "little black thing among the snow," standing out from his surroundings. He has been forced into his position because his parents mistook his childish innocence as happiness, and "because [he] was happy upon the heath…They clothed [him] in the clothes of death, and taught [him] to sing the notes of woe" (46). Because his parents cannot see how unhappy he is and think that "because [he is] happy, & dance & sing/They think they have done [him] no injury" (46). Much like the poem in Songs of Innocence, the chimneysweeper cries out "weep, weep, in notes of woe," however he seems to imply that he should be pitied because knows the horrors to which he is subjected to. The chimneysweeper also notes the futility of prayer and reverence to "God & his priest & King/Who make up a heaven of our misery" (46). This may be a reference to how the Church and State profit from child labor, while praying to God feels futile as prayer does not allow them to escape from their present position. The "Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Experience has a darker tone and uses descriptors such as black, woe, death, and misery to describe the chimneysweeper. In this poem, religion and prayer are a foreign and external concept.