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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...
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…
Works Cited
Blake, William. Blake's Poetry and Designs. Ed. Mary Lynn Johnson and John E. Grant. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1979. Print.
The William Blake Archive. Ed. Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi. 10
September 2010. Web. 26 March 2011.
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