Analysis Of William Blake’s Poems Essay Sample

This simple verse form is two stanzas of six lines each. The two stanzas each follow an ABCDDC rime strategy. a contrast to most of Blake’s other poetic forms. The rhyming words are ever framed by the repeat of “thee” at the terminal of the 4th and 6th lines. pulling the reader’s attending to the parent. who speaks. and his or her concern with the babe. The infant’s words. or those imagined by the parent to be spoken by the baby. are set off with elans at the terminal of each line. turning this short verse form into a duologue between parent and kid sing the naming of the babe. That the babe names itself reflects Blake’s desire to see the human spirit find its ain province of cloud nine. instead than to trust upon a signifier of felicity imposed upon it by societal concepts or spiritual establishments. This babe is the perfect inexperienced person who. when left entirely to find its ain nature. happen joy instead than guilt or repression within.

The last three lines of the 2nd stanza speak to the artlessness of the kid. “Thou dost smiling. I sing the piece ; Sweet joy befall thee! ” The presence of smiling. vocalizing. and being joyous glow with those guiltless happy yearss merely the grownups retrieve of the two twelvemonth old. The presence of the I is either Blake pretense to remember his childhood or merely merely utilizing his observations of kids or a specific kid to pull upon. The words joy. happy. and sweet are sprinkled finely throughout the verse form to heighten the impression of the content nature of the two twelvemonth old kid. This repeat and presence calls to the attending of ageless felicity. Though these factors can be tied to innocence which leads to exposure. the felicity of the kid may besides stand entirely within the internal nature of the kid. Blake is reasoning that to be immature and without a label. is to be happy. It is to be perpetually joyous. The first stanza calls for this reading. “’I have no name ; I am but two yearss old. ’ What shall I name thee? I happy am. Joy is my name. ’”

‘I have no name ; ( no individuality ) I am but two yearss old. ’ ( pure. inexperienced person. happy. naivete of artlessness )
What shall I name thee? ‘I happy am. ( no jobs or duty ) Joy is my name. ’ Sweet joy befalls thee! ( Irony/ won’t live in joy/ child’s supplication )

Pretty joy! Sweet joy. but two yearss old. ( Still pure and inexperienced person ) Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smiling. ( bogus smiling. can’t understand the hurting ) . I sing the piece ; ( momently / will disappear ) Sweet joy befalls thee! ( Sense of sarcasm repeated ) .

Blake emphasizes the sense of naive.

The Chimney Sweeper ( Songs Of Innocence ) Notes:
“The Chimney Sweeper” comprises six quatrains. each following the AABB rime strategy. with two riming pairs per quatrain. The first stanza introduces the talker. a immature male child who has been forced by fortunes into the risky business of chimney sweeper. The 2nd stanza introduces Tom Dacre. a fellow chimney expanse who acts as a foil to the talker. Tom is upset about his batch in life. so the talker comforts him until he falls asleep. The following three stanzas recount Tom Dacre’s slightly revelatory dream of the chimney sweepers’ “heaven. ” However. the concluding stanza finds Tom waking up the undermentioned forenoon. with him and the talker still trapped in their unsafe line of work.

There is a intimation of unfavorable judgment here in Tom Dacre’s dream and in the boys’ subsequent actions. nevertheless. Blake decries the usage of promised hereafter felicity as a manner of repressing the oppressed. The boys carry on with their awful. likely fatal work because of their hope in a hereafter where their fortunes will be set right. This same promise was frequently used by those in power to keep the position quo so that workers and the weak would non unify to stand against the cold conditions forced upon them. As becomes more clear in Blake’s Songs of Experience. the poet had small forbearance with alleviative steps that did nil to change the present agony of destitute households.

What on the surface appears to be a condescending moral to lazy male childs is in fact a crisp unfavorable judgment of a civilization that would perpetuate the cold conditions of chimney brushing on kids. Tom Dacre ( whose name may deduce from “Tom Dark. ” reflecting the coal-black visage of most chimney expanses ) is comforted by the promise of a hereafter outside the “coffin” that is his life’s batch. Clearly. his present province is awful and merely made endurable by the two-edged hope of a happy hereafter following a speedy decease.

Blake here critiques non merely the distressing conditions of the kids sold into chimney sweeping. but besides the society. and peculiarly its spiritual facet. that would offer these kids palliatives instead than assistance. That the talker and Tom Dacre acquire up from the vision to head back into their unsafe plodding suggests that these kids can non assist themselves. so it is left to responsible. sensitive grownups to make something for them.

Child’s fate was already sold. Never find a clip to rest Child’s fate was already sold. Never find a clip to rest The Chimney Sweeper ( had a tough life/ short life anticipation )

When my female parent died I was really immature.
And my male parent sold me while yet my lingua
Could barely cry ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ( sweeping/couldn’t even call ) So your chimneys I sweep. and in carbon black I sleep. ( similar sound to sweep/ sibilance/ credence of his state of affairs in life ) Sense of being in prison. caput being shaved. His male parent sold him. used his insignificance to be a chimney sweeper. Sense of being in prison. caput being shaved. His male parent sold him. used his insignificance to be a chimney sweeper.

There’s small Tom Dacre. who cried when his caput.
That curled like a lamb’s back. was shaved: so I said. ( thought of pureness. sanctum ) “Hush. Tom! ne’er mind it. for when your head’s bare. ( offer him some aid ) You know that the carbon black can non botch your white hair. ” ( Whatever has been burnt ) .

And so he was quiet ; and that really dark. ( obeys and stops weeping ) . As Tom was a-sleeping. he had such a sight. –
That 1000s of sweepers. Dick. Joe. Ned. and Jack. ( common names. working category ) Were all of them locked up in caskets of black. ( metaphor for chimney. captivity. are traveling to decease immature ( can’t flight ) ) . Children died. decease set them free. Angels represents faith Children died. decease set them free. Angels represents faith

And by came an angel who had a bright key.
And he opened the caskets and put them all free ;
Then down a green field spring. express joying. they run. ( active ) And wash in a river. and radiance in the Sun. ( baptise – cleansing of wickednesss / radiance in Eden )

Hadn’t to worry about anything any longer.
Hadn’t to worry about anything any longer.
Then bare and white. all their bags left buttocks. ( artlessness form/holy/reborn. connects with Tom in G. M. because Tom leaves his bags behind ) They rise upon clouds and athletics in the air current ; ( souls taken to higher degree ) And the angel told Tom. if he’d be a good male child. ( didn’t head about his state of affairs in Earth. will be rewarded ) . He’d have God for his male parent. and ne’er want joy. ( has faith in god/ ne’er lack joy )

Lack in the existent universe. He had a vision of everything white and wakes up in the dark. Lack in the existent universe. He had a vision of everything white and wakes up in the dark. And so Tom awoke ; and we rose in the dark.

And got with our bags and our coppices to work.
Though the forenoon was cold. Tom was happy and warm ; ( he still has faith ) So if all do their responsibility they need non fear injury. ( existent menace on Earth if they don’t do their occupation )

The verse form has a changeless beat ( changeless work ) insistent nature of occupation. He accept that his fate by looking at what comes for him ( decease ) . No manner out to alter state of affairs.

The Chimney Sweeper ( Songs Of Experience ) Notes:
Where that poem posits a elusive satirical message against the type of faith that brings false comfort to abused kids. this version strikes straight at the job. Like Tom Dacre of the earlier verse form. the chimney sweeper is shouting. When asked where his parents are. he replies. “They are both gone up to church to pray. ” The male child goes on to explicate that his visual aspect of felicity has led his parents into believing that they have done no injury in happening him work as a chimney expanse. but the male child knows better. He says they taught him to “wear the apparels of death” and “to sing the notes of suffering. ” In fact. they taught him to make this “Because [ he ] was happy upon the heath. /And smil’d among the winter’s snow. ” The boy’s felicity was in fact an insult to his parents. and his ability to bask life despite the deathlike cold and want of winter. which may stand for poorness. as it does in “Holy Thursday. ” is the really quality that condemns him to a life of farther labour and danger. The male child coatings with the cursing statement that his parents “are gone up to praise God & A ; his Priest & A ; King/Who make up a Eden of our wretchedness. ”

When compared structurally to the comrade piece from Songs of Innocence. it is obvious that this verse form is half every bit long as its opposite number is. In add-on. many lines are much shorter by one or two syllables. The voice of the immature chimney sweeper is similar to that of Innocence. but he clearly has small clip for the inquiries put to him ( hence the shorter lines ) . This verse form starts with the AABB rime strategy feature of artlessness and childhood. but as it delves deeper into the experience of the Chimney Sweeper. it switches to CDCD EFEF for the last two stanzas. The concluding stanza. in fact. has merely a close rime between “injury” ( line 10 ) and “misery” ( line 12 ) . proposing an increasing dislocation in the chimney sweeper’s universe. or the societal order in general.

The full system. God included. colludes to construct its ain vision of Eden upon the labours of kids who are improbable to populate to see maturity. Blake castigates the authorities ( the “King” ) and spiritual leaders ( God’s “Priest” ) in similar manner to his two “Holy Thursday” poems. condemning the usage of otherwise guiltless kids to shore up up the moral scrupless of grownups both rich and hapless. The usage of the phrase “make up a Heaven” carries the dual significance of making a Heaven and lying about the being of Heaven. projecting even more depreciation in the way of the Priest and King.

The Chimney Sweeper ( lost of hope/given up on religion )

Ironic. he was cold & A ; happy. being restricted to make what he wants. Ironic. he was cold & A ; happy. being restricted to make what he wants. A small black thing among the snow. ( non a warm environment ) Crying! ‘weep! weep! ’ in notes of suffering! ( repeated once more – motive ) ( sense of failure of what was hopeful ) ‘Where are thy male parent and female parent? Say! ’ – ‘They are both gone up to the church to pray. ‘Because I was happy upon the heath. And smiled among the winter’s snow. They clothed me in the apparels of decease. And taught me to sing the notes of suffering. ‘And because I am happy and dance and sing. ( child’s nature. lost their guiltless native province ) . They think they have done me no hurt. And are gone to praise God and His priest and male monarch. ( animating. non supplying aid. confederacy ) Who made up a Eden of our wretchedness. ’ ( superficial/ made up control religion/ Eden is supposed to be something good non suffering )

lines 11 and 12 incriminations religion/ monarchy is falling / God is human signifier alteration in rhyme strategy = alteration in tone.
Misery = drama on words
enigma is really misery
person who believes in Eden and religion throughout the verse form.

London Notes:
“London” follows an ABAB rime strategy throughout its three stanzas with small divergence from iambic tetrameter. Merely “Mind-forg’d manacles” and “How” and “Blasts” in lines 14-15 are irregularly stressed. “Mind-forg’d” is stressed to foster its contrast from the predating three lines. each of which begins “In every” to make a litany of calls throughout London. Lines 14 and 15 give irregular emphasis to the two words in order to further upset the reader. taking up to the oxymoron of the “marriage hearse” in line 16.

The poet expresses his contempt for the urban conurbation of post-Industrial Revolution London in footings every bit harsh as his congratulations for nature and artlessness are pleasant. A society of people so tightly packed into unreal constructions strains evil upon immorality. climaxing with the “Harlot’s curse” that harms both the immature and the married. It is as if a system has been created specifically to destruct all that is good in world. a theme Blake takes up in his later works. The reader is warned off sing or brooding in London. and by deduction urged to seek safety from the world’s ailments in a more rural scene.

Blake’s review is non aimed merely at society or the system of the universe. nevertheless. Merely the 3rd stanza straight addresses one group’s subjugation of another. Alternatively. much of the verse form decries man’s self-oppression. One reading of the verse form suggests that the Harlot of the last stanza is in fact Nature herself. proclaimed a Harlot by a shockable. patriarchal spiritual system. In this reading. Nature turns the matrimony manager into a hearse for all matrimony everyplace. because matrimony is a restricting human establishment that leads to the decease of love instead than its fulfilment in natural urges.

I wander through each hired street. Near where the chartered Thames does flux. A grade in every face I meet. Marks of failing. Markss of suffering. In every call of every adult male. In every infant’s call of fright. In every voice. in every prohibition. The mind-forged handcuffs I hear: How the chimney-sweeper’s call Every darkening church appals. And the hapless soldier’s suspiration

Runs in blood down palace-walls. But most. through midnight streets I hear How the vernal harlot’s expletive Blasts the new-born infant’s tear. And blights with pestilences the matrimony hearse.

Tom is depressed by his female parent = chartered
Family is trapped = act as tools for person superior. Tom is a tool of Amanda. Witch = Amanda ( gentlemen company )
Hearse ( produces caskets ) = Tom is the 1 who is seeking to put free ( seeking to acquire out of casket ) . Manacles was made by head non adult male.
Jim and Laura = creates freedom if they were together. decease matrimony Mind forged = Tennessee couldn’t go to college.
Laura suppression = head forged handcuff ( her leg ) psychotic belief.
They don’t have the freedom of address ( ABAB ) .
Unstructured beats = broken.
Represents how society works/ non active ( observer ) .

Infant Sorrow ( Songs of Experience ) Notes:
The comrade verse form to “Infant Joy. ” this brief piece focuses on the hurting and trial attach toing childbearing. but from the infant’s position. He finds himself “helpless” and “naked. ” but besides describes himself as a “fiend hid in a cloud. ” proposing future injuries he may commit. To the infant fresh from the safety of his mother’s uterus. there is no comfort in the father’s weaponries. so he settles for pouting at his mother’s chest.

“Infant Sorrow” follows the Innocence rime strategy AABB for its two brief stanzas. The first quatrain and half of the 2nd include words full of energy. such as “groaned. ” “leapt. ” “piping. ” “Struggling. ” and “Striving. ” while the last pair gives up in licking with the words “Bound. ” “weary. ” and “sulked. ” The lively kid has given manner to a tired. bored baby in mere minutes.

My female parent groaned. my male parent wept: ( similar to the glass menagerie ) Into the unsafe universe I leapt. ( tom non cognizing what he is traveling to make ) Helpless. naked. shrieking loud. ( pure ) Like a monster hid in a cloud. ( hiding/pretending/fiend ( dangerous/can’t trust ) ) . Fighting in my father’s custodies. Endeavoring against my swaddling sets. Bound and weary. I thought best ( child ciphering how to better survive ) To pout upon my mother’s chest.

Lines 5 and 6 represent capturing and animalistic.
Lines 7 and 8 = discoveries comfort to the household.
Dangerous = already cognizant of the dangers of the universe.
Fighting = trying to interrupt away from parents.
Children represent hapless people ( fighting ) parents represent monarchy Being edge = being trapped
Infant sorrow/joy = moral values/ sense of cognition ( experience ) . Fathers hands represents religion
Fighting endeavoring = interrupting free from their bonds.
Bare babe in a cloud represents angels/ painting in a church. Faith and faith = enemy/ can’t trust.
Mind forged handcuffs = organized faith / a prevarication / created by people. Infant sorrow = edge. fighting. swathing sets ( links )
Last pairs ( sorrow ) = replete / already knows about the dangers of the universe. Sulk = experience better / don’t have to happen nutrient / female parent is at that place easy pick.