Saturday, January 24, 2009

Songs of Experience



Songs of Experience – The Chimney Sweeper
This poem is from the point of view of a boy who can see the social injustice. He sees a young boy crying in the snow while his mother and father have gone up to the church to pray. This casts a negative image of the parents that have abandoned him and God for allowing this treatment to happen. Like Songs of Innocence, there are brief images of innocence but they are immediately countered by images of death. This child believes that his sweep life is punishment for having a happy childhood unlike the naive child in Songs of Innocence this child knows this lifestyle will lead him to an early death. The final line of the poem emphasizes a criticism of God by placing heaven and misery together in one line.

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