"The Chimney Sweeper" analysis

Essay by jordan1497High School, 12th gradeA-, October 2014

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William Blake's 1789 and 1794 poems, both entitled "The Chimney Sweeper," contain similar diction where the child is speaking and cries out; Blake uses simple and informal diction to create a childlike atmosphere. Each poem is set apart by point of view, creating different tone. In his 1789 version of "The Chimney Sweeper," the point of view is from a young child, producing a happy and innocent tone for he views everything that happens to him as a blessing, unaware of what his father has truly forced him into. On the other hand, the 1794 "The Chimney Sweeper" is based on the point of view of an adult who sees the truth behind the parents' actions, which the child does not; this creates a critical and cynical tone. Blake uses childlike diction to bring the two poems together, and he uses tone to isolate them from one another.

The 1789 and 1794 versions of Blake's poem both have simple, childlike diction. This is the result of a child's narration of the first poem and a child being the main speaker in the second. In both poems, God is referred to in terms of praise, as a child is taught to believe. Both the narrator in the first poem and the child speaking in the second seem happy and untroubled. They are unaware that they live as slaves and are doomed to perish before their time. The naïve diction of the poems is a product of the innocence of the speakers.

Blake's 1789 version of "The Chimney Sweeper" is from the point of view of a young boy who cannot comprehend the situation in which he lives. The child's innocent view of his life results in the childlike tone. He believes that he...