William Blake is not your average success story. He grew up poor and uneducated, though he loved reading, and for most of the 19th century was only known by his inner circle. As a child, he was probably seen as odd because of his claims of seeing "angels in the haystacks" and "beholding God's face". (74) One of his spiritual encounters speaks of his brother giving him the idea of "Illuminated Printing", which was a exhausting and long process of printing his books. This printing process along with the fact that he had limited funds, caused Blake to only be able to publish a few of his works, and therefore remain practically unheard until after his death.
In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake shows us that the idealistic thought of childhood innocence can be quite contrary to the fact. Some children who are abused and neglected as infants can be said to have lost a sense of innocence. Adults, such as Michael Jackson, are often seen as children who never grew up. When we think of children, words like, pure, happy, and playful. But Blake shows us in The Chimney Sweeper, the the child Tom, was so tormented by the fact that he had to become a chimney sweeper, the night before he began, he dreamed that "all of them lock'd up in coffins of black" (81). Fortunately, he found some peace in the dream, (the Angel setting them free), that made his reality bearable. The saddest part of this, is that the parents seemed to feel this was an acceptable practice in the site of God. "Where are thy father & mother? say? They are gone up to the church to pray.....And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King" (89). This reminds me of the beatings and abuse that the children from The House of Prayer, in Atlanta, suffered some years ago. Their parents, under the guidance of the pastor, were taught that it was acceptable to God to use excessive force to correct a child's behavior. I believe that sometimes, what the "king" in our present day lives deems to be acceptable for the most innocent of our society, must not only be challenged but corrected.
1 comment:
Sherri,
Some good observations in this posting (I especially like the way you connect Blake to the House of Prayer case in Atlanta), but it seems like you take a long time getting to your own insights. Much of this posting seems to be summary and setup for your comments on "The Chimney Sweeper." Also note that you seem to combine two different poems in your analysis, without clearly differentiating them. The two poems deal with two different chimney sweepers, with different perspectives and different histories (one is a partial orphan, the other is not).
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