William Blake is considered as the earliest poet of the “Romantic movement”, the characteristic

features of which were predominant in the poetry that was penned during the 19th century.
Although much greater recognition is given to poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats
for setting the Romantic trends in the history of English literature, one cannot totally ignore the
contributions of Blake in the same regard as he was the one who sowed the seeds of
Romanticism through his subjective poetry that vibrated with revolutionary zest and protest
against the social evils present during his time that were practiced in the name of politics and
religion.Blake’s first collection of poems, Poetical Sketches, was printed around 1783 and in
1784, Blake composed his unfinished manuscript An Island in the Moon.
Although Blake’s attacks on Christianity were shocking in his own day, his rejection of
religiosity was not a rejection of religion per se. His view of orthodoxy can be seen in The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a series of texts written in imitation of Biblical prophecy. In The
Everlasting Gospel, Blake does not see Jesus as a philosopher or a messiah, but as a supremely
creative being, who has risen above dogma, logic and even morality. One of Blake’s strongest
objections to orthodox Christianity is that he felt it encouraged the suppression of natural desires
and discouraged earthly joy. In A Vision of the Last Judgment, Blake says just that.

Chimney sweeper –
It is worth noticing that God has been shown in two completely different lights in these two
versions of The Chimney Sweeper. In the Innocence version he is shown as the poor child’s only
hope of redemption and freedom from his suffering whereas in the Experience version he has
been portrayed as a conspirator against the child’s innocence as he lets the child suffer so much.
The Innocence version is optimistic whereas the Experience version is dark and realistic where
the child is shown to suffer from hopelessness. Although in contrast with one another, a perfect
pairing of these two versions of the poem is very essential for the proper understanding of the
theme of the poem which is to uncover the hypocrisy of the Church and the King and the cruelty
of such children’s parents and employers while shedding light upon the child’s misery at the
same time. One version creates an impact and weakens the heart of the readers through its
innocent take on the social injustice whereas the other version gives rise to a surge of protest
against these evil agencies which exploit little children. No one view is correct as one is
incomplete without the other. In spite of being contradictory, these two different takes are
complementary which is why a balance in understanding of the two as a single orchestrated unit
is necessary for the poem to produce the desired effect on the readers.
“The Chimney Sweeper” present in both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are heart
wrenching pieces of poetry written by Blake to shed light upon the oppression that the underage
children went through just so that the greedy so-called upper class members of the society and
their money-hungry parents who sold them off could exploit their innocence and labor to suit
their needs. In the Songs of Innocence, this major social issue has been perceived through the
eyes of a little boy who takes every misery that his inflicted upon him in his stride with the hopes
of a better tomorrow.

This little boy is unaware of the gross injustice being done to him. The Songs of Experience is
the darker twin of the Songs of Innocence. In this dark version, there is an underline of protest
and the sense of being wronged is predominant in the speech of the little boy as he now realizes
the unfairness of the society which has taken his innocence from him to exploit his labor to meet
their selfish demands.
1. experience
The Chimney Sweeper analysis of the Songs of Experience version of the poem will add depth to
a reader’s understanding as this poem shows the pitiable condition of the exploited kids from a
mature viewpoint where the speaker is no longer an innocent child but someone who has learnt
about the harsh ways of the world the hard way and feels resentment towards this system of the
society where little kids have to shed their innocence to work for the ones who enjoy a high rung
in the social ladder.
2. Innocence

Here we see how the kid helplessly hopes in his dream that God will bring an end to his
pain. By adding this aspect to Tom’s dream, Blake also wants to shed light upon the blind
faith on religion and Providence which never amounted to any good as little kids were
made to suffer by the hands of their cruel and selfish employers. It is worth noticing that
the angel is just a fragment of the child’s dream and might not exist at all. It just might be
something that the kid’s optimism created to urge him through his dark days.

When the little kid rises from his dream the next day he again has to gather his brushes
and tools to set out for work but this time he does not feel too bleak and helpless because
of his inspiring dream from the last night. The little child holds on to the comforting
thought that he will soon win God’s favor and that will take him away from his world of
perennial angst. Here we again get to see the innocence of the child who blindly invests
his hopes in God completely unaware that the evil forces of the society are much stronger
than his prayers of redemption

The pendant (or companion) poem to this one, found in the Songs of Experience, is “The
Tyger”; taken together, the two poems give a perspective on religion that includes the
good and clear as well as the terrible and inscrutable. These poems complement each
other to produce a fuller account than either offers independently. They offer a good
instance of how Blake himself stands somewhere outside the perspectives of innocence
and experience he projects.