Krystle Hernandez. In the Romantic era, literature became increasingly subjective, personal, emotional, and imaginative. Whereas Enlightenment writers focused on the similarities between people, Romantic era writers like William Blake, were becoming more interested in individuality and the differences between human beings. Blake's collection of poems Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, written in 1794, particularly the first version of "The Chimney Sweeper," reflects these tendencies of the Romantic period.
Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" takes on the point of view of a young boy who works in the city as a chimneysweeper. Throughout the lines of the poem, readers are given a glimpse at the boy's life. Blake describes the boy's unique perspective on his own situation. Despite the fact that the boy lives a horrible life, he believes the "story" that he will one day have a better life after death. This "story" is told frequently to oppress individuals who might demand better or equal treatment. Blake tells the story from the boy's point of view because taking this different perspective allows him to highlight the differences between individuals. Readers would likely have been members of the upper classes. With this poem, they could glance at what life is like in someone else's shoes.
In the first version of "The Chimney Sweeper" we can also see Blake's injection of a sense of emotion. The little boy has lost his mother and was sold by his father. He is literally alone, and most likely feels alienated from the rest of society. Clearly, Blake feels that where you are in the city makes a lot of difference with respect to the kind of life and experiences that you have.
Although at the time child chimneysweepers were likely commonplace, this group of individuals was virtually invisible. Blake's focus on the individual's story brings what was previously invisible into the light. This idea of taking the ordinary and doing something with it that makes it extraordinary is common during the Romantic period.
Another characteristic of many Romantic era writers is the insertion of nature or natural images into their works. Although "the Chimney Sweeper" is presumably set in an industrialized city where residents would require a chimneysweeper, Blake inserts images of nature throughout the poem. Blake peppers the poem with images that are typically associated with picturesque countryside landscapes such as a "lamb's back" (line 6), a "green plain" (line 15), and "a river" (line 16). In addition, Blake elicits images of the sky as the chimney sweeper describes the freed chimneysweepers from Tom's dream as shining "in the Sun" (line 16), rising "upon the clouds" and sporting "in the wind" (line 18).
Parker Stegmaier It is one thing when two different writers title two different works with the same name, but quite another when the same writer titles two different works with the same name. Despite the apparent similarity in several literary devices and the subject of William Blake's two poems named "The Chimney Sweeper", the clear opposition in tone and theme make these two poems very different from eachother.
There are several similarities in the literary devices used in these two poems. The first is the opening rhyme scheme. The poems both start out with the rhyme scheme of AABB. This gives the impression that they are both happy poems which we later find is not true. The point of view in both of these poems is a child who is a chimney sweeper. Being a chimney sweeper as a child in this era most likely means you have lost your innocence of childhood a long time ago. As a result the speaker is a child, who speaks with the firmness and intelligence of an adult. This shows the brutal work that child chimney sweepers had to go through and how if affected them. The alliteration in these two poems is very similar. "I sweep & in soot I sleep." is an example from the first poem. "Crying " 'weep, 'weep," in notes of woe!" is an example from the second poem. The placing of these lines in the beginning of the poems makes it seem as if the speaker is neutral on the subject and that it does not matter when it truly does to the speaker. With these similarities in literary devices, the two poems seem to be very similar; however, the truth is besides the subject and the literary devices that are similar, there are really no other similarities in these two poems.
There are actually several differences in the literary devices used in each poem just as there are similarities. As previously mentioned the two poems start out with the same rhyme scheme. However, after the first stanza in the second poem, the rhyme scheme changes to CDCD. This change reflects that the second poem has turned to a much darker tone while the first poem continues to sound more optimistic. The diction of the two poems also contributes to the evident difference in the poems. In the first poem, the diction seems happier or optimistic while in the second poem the diction seems darker or satirical. An example from the first poem is, "Hush, Tom! Never mind it, for when your head's bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." The diction in that line makes a sad situation more optimistic. An example from the first poem is, "They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe." The diction in that line makes a sad situation even worse. The second poem also carried a repetition of the phrase, "notes of woe." The first poem did not carry any meaningful repetition. The repetition in the second poem reaffirmed the darker tone of the poem. The lack of repetition in the first poem seems to give off a theme of: if you just keep going it will be better. These literary devices all help us to start to understand the tone of the poems, but the tones themselves need to be analyzed to truly understand them.
As shown formerly, the tones of these two poems are strikingly contrasting. The first poem has a tone of optimistic or light hearted. An example of this tone can be expressed in this line: "Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm; So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm." The second poem has a tone of dark or satirical optimism. An example of this tone can be expressed in this line: "And because I am happy, & dance &sing, They think they have done me no injury," This complete difference in tones makes the fact that they were written by the same author even more compelling. It may make the subject and themes of the poems more able to be understood if they are read or analyzed together.
Just as the tones of the two poems were very different, the themes of the two poems are almost opposites. The theme of the first poem is along the lines of the idea that there is light at the end of the tunnel and if you just keep going you will be in a better place. An example of this theme is shown through the line, "And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father & never want joy." The theme of the second poem is more about the fact that there is not light at the end of the tunnel and we will be suffering for the rest of our lives. An example of this theme is shown through the line, "And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, Who make up a heaven of our misery." These themes being in different poems that have the same titles make a very intriguing contrast. The author must have done this on purpose in order to help the reader understand the lives of child chimney sweepers.
How can one writer have two poems with the same title and not have them relate to eachother in some way. There are differences between the poems, but the differences occur at such extremes from eachother that they actually help the reader understand both of the poems. Regardless of the differences in the two poems' tone and theme, they are related to eachother on an exceptionally deep level.
Nick Sabino Two poems, both by William Blake, show the same theme in two different lights. The first Chimney Sweeper, from the songs of innocence, portrays the child as someone who was forced to sweep chimneys through necessity. The main character has a genuinely innocent and optimistic personality. The other Chimney Sweeper, from the songs of experience, gives the illusion that the child was forced into the profession not by a mothers death, but of a mothers greed. The child puts on a happy face, but underneath he speaks of a heaven of our misery.
The central themes behind each of these poems are the hardships of being a chimney sweeper, why they are a chimney sweeper, and how they deal with it. In the Innocence Chimney Sweeper, the main character speaks of how in soot I sleep. Obviously life is not easy for him. However, he looks to the future when all the chimney sweepers go leaping, laughing, they run. Right off the bat, the reader is told why he is a chimney sweeper. When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue. Obviously, he was forced into the occupation by poverty. The main character has a very optimistic way of coping with the hardships. He helps the others along and is a half-full kind of guy. He tells little Tom Dacre after he is forced to cut his hair that now the soot cannot spoil your white hair.
The themes of the Chimney Sweeper from the Songs of Experience are more hidden as this is a shorter poem. The hardships in this poem are definitely more dramatic and hateful. The main character says, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. The main character is definitely more bitter in this poem. The reason as to why he is a chimney sweeper is less obvious. It does not seem it is through poverty, as the parents have time to go to Church and pray. The most probable reason is that the parents are greedy and do not respect the child. That child puts on an act to make them think he is fine. And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury. But he goes on to reveal his true feelings of chimney sweeping saying, Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe.
The central purpose of the poems is to allow a vision of two very different young boys with similar lives. To me, these poems demonstrated how utterly stupid stereotypes are. These two chimney sweepers could not be more different, yet if one saw the word chimney sweeper, he would immediately look to the boy from the Songs of Innocence.
The imagery in this poem is fantastic. There is imagery which allows for many different implications such as, In soot I sleep. This could mean that the boy didnt have any other clothes and had to sleep in his blackened clothes, or it could mean that he was so tired he actually fell asleep on the job. More imagery is the use of names. In the Songs of Innocence poem, names such as Tom, Dick, and Joe are used because the boy is a lighthearted and genuinely fun person to be around. However, that poems darker twin, the Songs of Experience poem lacked any names whatsoever. The structure of imagery is definitely contrasting imagery. This contrast is not so much seen in the individual poems, but in a comparison of the two.
Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. Connotation involves the baggage the word accompanies. The line in which the boy is yelling weep! weep! is a great example of how there exist differences between connotation and denotation. This is just a boy calling for work asking if anybody needs their chimney swept. However, this implies with the connotative meaning that this is a poor little boy covered in soot from a poor family who wants work just so he can have dinner. Big difference, eh?
James Blake is a master poet. He not only provides great contrast in a poem, but provides excellent contrast between two very different poems. The imagery is spectacular and the purpose of this poem has survived almost 250 years.
Maureen Cutajar. The Chimney Sweeper is a poem inspired by indignation against the shameful use of small boys for sweeping chimneys. The poem speaks about the cruelties of childrens lives as chimney sweeps; most of them were under the age of seven and few lived into what we now calladolescence dying of respiratory diseases and cancer.
Throughout the poem the speaker is inured to his lot: So your chimneys I sweep, & in soot I sleep the speaker has not become hardened like the cynical speaker of experience. Toms dream evinces a personal solidarity with thousands of sweepers locked up in coffins of black that are set free by an Angel. Instead of inspiring revolt, Toms dream of freedom serves as a comforting illusion that enables him to carry on without complaint, the angel restoring his faith in a surrogate, loving father. But the coffins of black are the harsh reality of the chimneys and the lines in the first and last stanzas: in soot I sleep; we rose in the dark shows us that the grim reality remains unaltered.
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