In the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience Blake conveys his

In the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience Blake conveys his

thoughts and feelings about the treatment of the children of the poor

How does Blake convey his thoughts and feelings about the treatment of

children of the poor in England of his day? In your answer, either

make detailed use of one or two of his poems or range widely across

the songs.

In the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience Blake conveys his

thoughts and feelings about the treatment of the children of the poor

by displaying how these children are the products of exploitation, how

they are ill treated and ignored. Blake explains in his poems how

society do not recognise, or more probably, refuse to recognise the

abuse of children of the poor and would rather use them as victims in

this harsh evolving capitalist world. Through many of the poems

regarding children of the poor, Blake gives the children a voice. He

is trying to say: We are human - not only human, but also spiritual

and divine.

In The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence Blake presents children

of the poor who are not treated as if they are moral human beings, ‘And

my father sold me’, they are treated as if they are objects; ‘So your

chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep’. The narrator is not Blake

himself; the poem is in fact spoken through the words of a little boy

chimney sweeper, which allows the reader to feel closer and much more

sympathetic towards the little boy. The matter of fact language,

simple and childlike of the boy speaker explains why this poem that is

so clearly set in a world of harsh experience is actually in the Songs

of Innocence. The fact that the father sells the child, which may have

been and probably was an act of desperation shows...

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imply and enforce his indignation. ‘In a rich and fruitful land’

conveys the inequality of the social classes; the children are

instrumental in maintaining the social hierarchy.

The use of the word ‘babe’ conveys a lack of innocence and childhood -

Blake is conveying that children of the poor are not able to enjoy the

freedom and innocence that they rightfully should. Although they are

children, they do not seem to live in the state of childhood.

Thus Blake holds even the charitable actions of society are not what

they seem and goes beyond their outward manifestations to examine

their motives - making us aware of the conditions that permitted such

poverty to thrive. Blake is conveying with these poems the importance

of protecting and valuing innocence wherever it is found and that

society is corrupt in its treatment of children of the poor.