¶ … Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper "s
Romanticism was an intellectual, literary, and artistic movement that took place during the second half of the eighteenth century. William Blake, an English poet, painter, and printmaker, explores opposing views in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, his collection of poems that juxtaposes what he considers to be innocent perspectives against the perspectives of those who have been exposed to the cruelties of life. In "The Chimney Sweeper," two poems of the same name found in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Blake uses religious imagery and social commentary to discern how perspectives change based on the individuals' experiences.
Through the juxtaposition of the chimneysweepers in his poems, Blake is able to provide commentary on how society and civilization corrupt and destroy the inherent innocence of children. In Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, Gene Veith notes that "civilization was seen as corrupting the natural innocence of human beings; more primitive societies are closer to nature and therefore morally superior to technically advanced societies" (182). Additionally, Veith believes that this concept is best applied to children, whom he believes are "born innocent and full of creative life" (182). However, Blake demonstrates how innocence and experience drastically change an individual's perspective through the comparison of a young child who believes he is on a career trajectory that will reunite him with God and a young child who sees the world as it is, one in which he has to work to support his family...
I was surprised by a lot of the darker imagery in a lot of his work, especially in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell." I knew that his religious views were controversial, but in his day it would not have been too surprising if he ended up in some sort of legal trouble over what almost appear to be Satanistic statements. A really like Blake's style, however, the way his
" The use of "coffins in black" as symbolism for death aptly justifies the use of the word "weep" to capture the abusive nature of the sweepers' work, not to mention the unfair conditions in work these young workers were forced to agree with. Lacking any choices or rights, the young, alienated sweepers became victims of moral degeneration, a condition only found in Blake's modern society. Abuse of the youth's innocence
Romantic Lit Romantic notions in Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that occurred during the second half of the 18th century. During this time, a shift from previously established Enlightenment ideals to more natural, emotional, and personal themes was seen. Opposing forces within Romantic literature were Nature and the Self; Nature was seen as the source of goodness and it was through society and civilization that
Because I was happy upon the heath, And smiled among the winter's snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his priest and king, Who make up a heaven of our misery." In these two poems, Mark Blake was allegorically relating the importance
Romantic ideal in the poetry of William Blake, William Wordsworth and Walt Whitman shares the attitude that the most worthy part of human existence lies in simplicity and deep emotion rather than rational thought. Romanticism is based upon a movement away from the rationality of Enlightenment and the wealth-driven society inspired by Industrialism. This ideal is reflected in the work of the poets mentioned above. To demonstrate this, "The
Childhood Poets of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century concerned themselves with childhood and its various experiences, but the particular historical and aesthetic contexts within which different poets wrote affected their perspective on the matter greatly. As literature moved from Romanticism to naturalism, the tone poets took when considering children and their place in society changed, because where children previously existed as a kind of emotional or romantic accessory, they
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