Blog #13: Paired Poems Revision (Chimney Sweeper)

             In two poems, both titled "The Chimney Sweeper", William Blake critiques the depraved conditions of life as a chimney sweep. Despite the similar names, Blake contrasts innocence with the disillusionment of a higher power through the two essays. Utilizing religious diction, similar rhyme schemes,and heartbreaking imagery, Blake draws a parallelism between the two poems that he ultimately shatters by revealing the loss of innocence of the chimney sweeps.
              In "The Chimney Sweeper" written in 1789, Blake keeps a consistent rhyme scheme of AABB throughout compared to "The Chimney Sweeper" written in 1794 which switches from an AABB rhyme scheme to a CACADEDE after the first stanza. The consistent rhyme scheme in the 1789 version represents the sense of innocence that pervades the whole poem. Meanwhile the inconsistent rhyme scheme of the 1794 versions represents the disillusionment that the narrator experiences throughout the poem. Furthermore, Blake repeats the ending of the first two lines of the poem, but puts them in a different rhyme scheme in the second stanza. "Crying...in notes of woe" is juxtaposed with "taught me to sing the notes of woe" indicating the tone shift that has occurred between the two stanzas. The narrator is no longer desolate in his conditions but has learned to accept his horrible fate, an indication of his disillusionment and the hopelessness he feels.
             The narrator is not only disillusioned with his occupation but also with a higher power. He no longer feels that God will take him out of his misery as he says, "praise God....who make up a heaven of our misery". The contrast between heaven and misery in this line indicates that the narrator no longer believes there is a heaven to be found as his heaven, or the place he will eventually end up is only a place of misery. Meanwhile, in the 1789 version, "little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head...was shav'd" shifts from despondent to hopeful after he dreamt that "Angel told [him]...he'd have God for his father & never want joy." This displays Tom's hopeful innocence. He believes that a higher power will rescue him from his current situation. He has not accepted his misery as he thinks that there is an escape, that there is a father figure looking out for his orphaned soul. It is this sense of hope that Blake brings to the 1789 version of his poem that the audience does not see in the 1794 poem.
            Despite the differences in the two poems, the same author wrote both and that same author plays on the sentiments of the reader in order to draw their sympathies towards the desolate conditions of life as a chimney sweep. With the line "weep! weep!" repeated in both poems, Blake draws attention to the young age of these miserable workers as he depicts their feeble attempt at pronouncing "sweep" with their lisps. This repeated line in both poems illustrates that despite differences in tone and diction, Blake wrote both poems with one ultimate goal: to invoke pity for these poor chimney sweeps.