William Blake's The Chimney Sweeper intends to change the mind and Essay

William Blake's The Chimney Sweeper intends to change the mind and hearts of its readers. Explain how this might be supposed to work upon the consciousness and conscience of Blake's contemporaries - Essay Example Blake’s major poems are represented in two collections: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. First collection of poems has many similar images of children, besides it presents many religious and social themes. The name of the collection implies that the themes and issues are present from the perspective of a child. The world is shown in the light which is different to the one an adult sees it. In his two collections of poems Blake presents the same themes, but in different lights and from different angles using words ‘innocence’ and ‘experience’ for collections’ titles. On the one hand, the contrast of the issues presented in the two great collections is strikingly vivid. However, on the other hand, the two opposing visions of life are equally important and necessary for better understanding of the wholesome picture of reality. State of innocence is a child’s vision of things and understanding of the world, while state of experience is a mature person’s perception of reality. One cannot be without the other. Two components, child’s innocence and adult’s experience, put together can create a wholesome picture of the reality and the world we live in. The poet makes his best to present all the truth of life through contrasting images of his two complementary collections of poems (Gallant 124). Blake’s intent ion is to change reader’s mind for the better by identifying evils and corruptions present in English society. He makes his contemporaries think of the reality they live in and perceive it objectively and adequately. Songs of Innocence is the representation of childhood and naivetà © it entails. Blake’s poem The Chimney Sweeper is one of the poems published in Songs of Innocence (1789). The poem contains all the hopes, fears, and naivetà © altogether a child might experience, especially during the time when child labor was such