Willam Blakes`s two versions of `The Chimney Sweeper`

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Oppression by State and Church in

`The Chimney Sweeper ' in Songs of Innocence and Experience

William Blake 's two versions of `The Chimney Sweeper ' in Songs of Innocence (published 1789 ) and Songs of Experience (published 1794 depict the harsh reality of the titular child laborers in England during the onset of the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th century Blake in his poems uses a variety of techniques to explicate his themes of exploitation , oppression , and dominance by

both church and state these themes , however , are treated differently in each of the poems through his subtle use of contrast and image juxtapositions , both of which we will explore in the following paragraphs

`The Chimney Sweeper ' of Songs of Innocence , opens the poem by stating

When my mother died I was very young

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry `weep ! `weep ! `weep ! `weep

So your chimneys I sweep , and in soot I sleep (Lines 1-4

In the above line , the Chimney Sweeper directs his statement to the `you ' of society , the `you ' that has relegated this young orphan to a soot-filled existence . The play on the word 'weep ' conjures in the reader 's mind a child 's voice as he chants the chimney sweep 's cry , as well as the literal meaning weep ' The black associated with his profession , becomes a symbol of innocence marred when juxtaposed against the hair of `little Tom Dacre (Line 5 ) which `curled like a lamb 's back , was shaved (Line 6 . The Narrator consoles the bereaved child saying

Hush , Tom ! never mind it , for when your head 's bare

You know that soot cannot spoil your white hair (Lines 7-8

Both the color white and the imagery of the lamb are compound symbols correlating to the Religious themes found in the poem 's succeeding stanzas , where in a dream Tom encounters .thousands of sweepers , Dick , Joe , Ned , and Jack .all of them locked up in coffins of black (Lines 11-12

Again Blake tethers black to death by way of the coffin imagery . The inclusion of names here -common English names- gives the work the semblance of a children 's rhyme , which during that time commonly invoked names this also concretizes the `thousands of sweepers ' in the reader 's mind , giving names to the boys whose actions occupy later lines . The succeeding stanza sees an angel freeing Tom Dacre and the other chimney sweeps from their black coffin prisons

And by came an angel who had a bright key

And he opened the coffins and set them all free

Then down a green plain leaping , laughing , they run

And wash in a river , and shine in the sun (Lines 13-16

In the above lines we see that the Angel holds the `key ' to happiness the harsh reality of existence is dispelled by the lush green plain of the dream , where the children , laughing , frolicking , in the arms of...