Literary analysis concepts and methods

¶ … Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper "s

Romanticism was an intellectual, literary, and artistic movement that took place during the second half of the eighteenth century. William Blake, an English poet, painter, and printmaker, explores opposing views in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, his collection of poems that juxtaposes what he considers to be innocent perspectives against the perspectives of those who have been exposed to the cruelties of life. In "The Chimney Sweeper," two poems of the same name found in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Blake uses religious imagery and social commentary to discern how perspectives change based on the individuals' experiences.

Through the juxtaposition of the chimneysweepers in his poems, Blake is able to provide commentary on how society and civilization corrupt and destroy the inherent innocence of children. In Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, Gene Veith notes that "civilization was seen as corrupting the natural innocence of human beings; more primitive societies are closer to nature and therefore morally superior to technically advanced societies" (182). Additionally, Veith believes that this concept is best applied to children, whom he believes are "born innocent and full of creative life" (182). However, Blake demonstrates how innocence and experience drastically change an individual's perspective through the comparison of a young child who believes he is on a career trajectory that will reunite him with God and a young child who sees the world as it is, one in which he has to work to support his family and one in which the government and the Church turn a blind eye to his misery. Blake's treatment of the chimneysweeper in Songs of Innocence aligns with Veith's argument that children are inherently innocent, which can be considered to be their natural state of being. On the other hand, experience forces children into an unnatural state and corrupts not only them, but also society as it is thrown into disarray, ultimately forcing individuals to become more corrupt and turn away from the Church. Blake explores these concepts of innocence and experience, and how they are influenced by society and religion, in his complementary "The Chimney Sweeper" poems.

In the Songs of Innocence's version of "The Chimney Sweeper," Blake depicts a young boy that does not understand the darker and more serious implications of his job. The poem's narrator cries out "weep, weep, weep" to advertise his services as a chimneysweeper, while inadvertently calling to the public to weep for him because of his tragic condition in life (Blake, Songs of Innocence, 3). The chimneysweeper's cries also allow the reader to better understand how young he is as it is evident that he does not have the ability to properly say the word sweep. In order to emphasize the narrator's innocence, Blake utilizes religious imagery to demonstrate how the narrator's faith remains unchanged even though he has been forced to be in an environment that claims the lives on innocent children on a regular basis.

In the Songs of Innocence "Chimney Sweeper," the narrator believes his work as a chimneysweeper serves a higher purpose and therefore, he does not focus on the negative aspects, certain death, of his job. In the poem, Blake uses religious imagery to emphasize the chimneysweepers' innocence. For instance, he describes Tom Dacre as having "white hair…that curl'd like a lamb's back" (Blake, Songs of Innocence, 6). Furthermore, Blake continues to highlight the narrator's innocence by analyzing his unconscious thoughts. Even when the narrator is dreaming, he believes that God will save him. The narrator comments that he dreamed "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" (11-14). Not only does the chimneysweeper draw parallels between the chimneys that can be considered to be coffins, but he also references the Christian belief of Jesus Christ's resurrection and ascension into heaven.