The Chimney Sweeper and London by William Blake and Tich Miller and Timothy Winters

The two poems “The Chimney Sweeper” and “London” by William Blake, and

the two poems “Tich Miller” and “Timothy Winters” are all on a theme

of childhood, however, they are set in different eras and so childhood

should be very different. Discuss this, comparing and contrasting the

poems.

As a child, William Blake was a loner. He never socialised with other

children and sat by himself reading the Bible.

His family were very religious, but did not agree with organised

religion. This meant that they never went to church and did all their

worshipping at home.

Blake was always an outsider and he refused to join in with his

brothers and sisters. He had visions of angels and God when he was

young and he often thought that this was normal for children of his

age. This is shown in “The Chimney Sweeper” when he says, “As Tom was

a-sleeping, he had such a sight!

Blake used to walk long distances across the countryside. He saw

London grow and develop over the years, and he hated it. Soon the

places he used to walk were taken over by “charter’d streets”. He

thought the Industrial Revolution ruined people’s lives. He saw, once

happy and smiling faces, turn grey and sad.

At the time, children hardly went to school but were sold or put to

work at a very young age. He sees childhood as innocent and thinks

that being put to work takes that away from you, making you

experienced.

In his two poems, “The Chimney Sweeper” and “London” he shows

childhood as a sad, lonely and hard time in a place where there is

industry and no freedom.

In the poem “London” Blake uses the word “every” a lot

“In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear”

This shows that Blake thinks that there is no escape from the...

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...s soon as they were old enough. In the other two

poems both the children were neglected and not looked after despite

the fact that they could get help due to the Welfare State.

All four poems gave a huge impression on what life was like for

children years ago, how they were left alone and had to fend for

themselves. Although when Blake’s poems were written children had to

work and get money for themselves and the family, some also had to

when the second two poems were written even though they shouldn’t have

because there was help for them.

The Welfare State did help a lot of children when it was introduced,

but some children’s parents did not take any notice of what it stood

for and the fact that their children could get free health care and

education. This is shown in the second two poems by what a bad state

Tich Miller and Timothy Winters were in.