When I read this piece, my mind thought "out of the mouths of babes." In "The Chimney Sweeper", Blake appears to voice the struggle and perspective of innocent boys (youngsters) being exploited as "chimney sweepers."
How can a child so innocent and pure in youth be so demoralized in such a "dark" situation?
The verse: (Page 81 - line 5)
Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl'd like a lambs back, was shav'd so I said:
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head's bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair
In the above passage Blake appears to contrast the bare head as being "more acceptable" than the black tarnishing of the white hair from the soot. The writer seems to suggest contrasts between the colors of black (darkness) and white (light, innocence and purity) throughout the poem. Referenced again in Line 11 - "were all of them lock'd up in coffins in black." Line 17 - "then naked and white, all their bags left behind."
Blake describes "an angel who had a bright key, and he opened the coffins and set them free" (line 13 & 14). While only a dream, Tom felt joy when symbolizes hopes in my mind. Blake seems to equate doing one's duty well with goodness. "And the Angel told Tom if he's be a good boy, he'd have God for his father and never wnat joy."
In light of Blake's great distain for the practice, Blake seems to give hope to the children who did their best. He seemed to suggest peace and hope is attainable even in the worst situations; especially with God as your guide.
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Angela,
ReplyDeleteOnce again, a good post. Your focus on this one poem enables you to make some good insights and observations, and you provide and discuss specific passages to help illustrate your points. In this case, though, you might have made even deeper insights by contrasting this poem with Blake's other poem by the same title, from Songs of Experience. That poem complicates the assertions you make in your final paragraph.
Angela, I really agree with how you interpreted what Blake was saying, especially with the last paragraph that you wrote. After reading it, I felt that overall Blake was saying that we should in a way be content with where we are in life, and that we should carry out our duties with a joyful heart knowing that we will receive our reward in heaven.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I appreciated how you got into the details and offered up your own interpretation (WHich I agree with, 100%). I definitely noticed a contrast in colors, too, between the boy's hair and his cap. That was so sad. Also, I'm glad you touched on the part about coffins! That went right over my head, but you made sense of it for me. It reminded me of a spiritual or something, still instilling hope in people despite even the worst of circumstance. I hadn't seen that prior to reading your post!
ReplyDeleteI wrote a similar post about this poem. I like the way you brought in the contrast between black and white, though. Blake definitely made a subtle suggestion that having a "blank" slate was better than having your innocence tarnished. I have to say that I disagree with Treanae, though; when you read "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Experience in contrast to "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence, or even read Blake more closely, you see that he rarely writes in such a clear cut way.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your analysis of this particular poem. "The Chimney Sweeper" stuck out to me because I felt it was a very somber read and had more meaning behind it. I liked how you pointed out the contrasting elements and offered an opinion of why the darkness perhaps represented a deeper meaning for the children. Your final words illuminated the positive in what I think Blake was hoping readers would see.
ReplyDeleteYou put the poem in perspective and it is very saddening to hear it from the child's point of view. The tone of this poem is also upliflting to me as well, because it shows that through this horrible ordeal, an innocent child can look past the "darkness" and see the light.
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