Blake and Wordsworth

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The Chimney-Sweeper poem by Blake in "Songs of Innocence" has actually been a big favorite of mine since I read it originally a few years ago. I'm drawn to it by the fact that the speaker helped Tom feel better about having his head shaved by comparing him to that of a lamb, and the fact that later Tom saw and angel who let out their friends who had died (from what I always have assumed was soot in their lungs) and into a "heaven" of itself. The Chimney-Sweeper poem by Blake in "Songs of Experience" is...much darker, though. Especially with how the speaker expresses their feelings to their parents who have gone to praise God without them, all upon making money from the work their child is doing "Who made up a heaven of our misery".

"The World is too much with us" by Wordsworth is probably my favorite out of the collection of his poems. Saying that we, as humans, don't look at the world and use it as we should. The speaker pleas that they want to see the truth of the world, and be able to have sight of Proteus and hear Triton. It's a good reflection to how humans are even now. We, as a race, don't really appreciate the earth like we should, and it's honestly pretty sad.

I commented on Carmen and Michael's posts.

Comments

  1. Phillip VoOctober 10, 2017 at 12:00 AM

    I really see the contrast in songs of innocence and songs of experience like you described here. It's almost immediate, you feel the tone change and suddenly you went from springtime to a dark, dark place. Within the lion, you can definitely feel Blake's change in attitude when he writes.

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