William Blake's The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London

Compare and Contrast William Blake's The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London

I am going to compare and contrast three of William Blake poems, where

he shows his feelings about the way people treat children: The

Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London.

The Chimney-Sweeper is about a child who sweeps chimneys. William

Blake sets this poem in the winter. The children worked in the cold.

Blake says, “A little black thing among the snow,” “The little black

thing,” Is the child who is dirty from cleaning the chimneys who

stands out in the snow. He also looks like a black mask on the

landscape. Like a dirty stain. “Crying weep, weep in the notes of

woe!” Blake hears them crying a song. As children do when they are

sad, the notes of woe are notes of extreme sadness. “Where are both

father and mother? Say? They are both gone up to the church to pray”

this sounds as if someone is asking the boy questions and he answers.

The child’s parents are missing. They don’t know where their parent

are, they could be praying at church. The church back then was in

possession of a lot of land, building and laid down guide lives for

people’s life styles. It also seems as if the church supports the

parents and does not consider that they have done any thing wrong. The

parents are sending the children to work at early age, and in

dangerous conditions (chimneys).

In the second verse William Blake talks about the child as a happy

child, but since he’s been take up the chimneys he is aware of the

dangers of his new job hence “cloths of death,” he’s now a different

person. His new job has changed his life, and he lives his life

wondering if today he will die up a chimney. It has robbed him of a

lif...

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...the priest and King

for not noticing and accepting the bad environment the poor are living

in. Blake doesn't like the Priest and Church for not caring for the

poor, even though they worship God and the Priest, it is unfair. Blake

thought very highly of children, he felt sorry for the children who

became chimney sweepers. He states this many times in his poetry. He

thought that the children were the future and that they shouldn't be

treated like dirt. They shouldn't get starved for hunger, the wealthy

should have looked after the children, but they didn't. The children

didn't get any importance then. Blake wanted the rich to know the

suffering and pain they have put the poor side through.

This povety is also happening in the world now and William Blake now

helps the world relise that there is povety in the world, and also

emphasizes to care for the poor.