Presumption of innocence

In the first version of “The Chimney Sweeper” from the Songs of Innocence, the boy is having to become a chimney sweeper because it is a necessity. The child says, “When my mother died I was very young, and my father sold me” (1459). During this time, child labor was very popular, and his father sold him because they were in poverty. The second version of “The Chimney Sweeper” the child was more than likely forced to do the job because his parents made him. The child’s parent is very alive…

created man in the divine image, in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” (New International Version, Genesis 1.27) Blake’s songs were written to shed light on the two opposing states of the human soul, primarily as one of innocence that believes man was created in the physical and virtuous image of God, “For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love/Is God,…

What makes you ‘you’? Perhaps the answer to the question varies from group to group; Perhaps, we are a collection of our physical, mental, and spiritual components, all unique and different. The Birthmark is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1843. The audience is introduced to a brilliant scientist, Aylmer, whose life revolved around his experiments and quest for scientific perfection. While controversial, Aylmer abandons his laboratory to marry Georgiana, a beautiful woman that…

Wondrous but Fearful Tyger William Blake’s “The Tyger” in Songs of Experience, written in 1794, describes the Tyger as “fearful” while appreciating its beauty. During this time, Blake was one of the first people to see a tiger; this inspired him to write “The Tyger” and paint the creature as a majestic but fierce being. Although the origins of the Tyger are questioned, the creator is referred to as “he” implying a male divine creator. While examining who or what created the Tyger, in addition…

What is my life all about? Why am I living in a world that is a hamster wheel of birth, work and death? What is it that makes my heart sing and how could I live by my own standards? And, most importantly, why am I not listening to that inner voice that keeps trying to warn me when I’m about to do something stupid. Every few years I would find myself practically homeless, broke, hungry, trying to hang onto whatever strands of a human existence I had left. I had a hole within me that was so vast…

in front of weep to associate the words weep and sweep to show that the chimney sweepers while they were sweeping they were often crying or sobbing. This really helps the reader understand how miserable the lives of these children were. In "The Chimney Sweeper (1789)" poem the main character has a name and in "The Chimney Sweeper (1794)" poem the protagonist is never referred to with a name but merely referred to as, "A little black thing among the snow,"(1). Blake gave the chimney sweeper in…

expect the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience to parallel Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The first two are books of poetry romanticizing the simplicity of nature over the rushed boom of the Industrial Revolution, and the later, a horror story about an articulate, yellow skinned monster that inspired a whole subgenre of fiction and films. The connections lie deeper than what a quick read can pick up; they’re in the fiber of the themes of distinction between innocence and experience. .…

rooftops. Chimney sweepers, usually are not in the mood to dance around, like in the movie. Chimney sweepers, although quickly seen, are represented accurately in the movie Oliver! William Blake’s poems “The Chimney Sweeper,” which is in Songs of Innocence and Experience, gains the audience a new perspective on this job. William Blake uses ethos, symbols, imagery and theme to help readers gain a greater understanding in the life of a chimney-sweeper. “The Chimney Sweeper,” is a poem that…

Love can always turn sour when misunderstandings happen and jealously enters the heart. The poem, My Pretty ROSE TREE, in The Longman Anthology of British Literature, was originally published in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience by William Blake. My Pretty ROSE TREE, under the section of ‘Experience’, tells a simple yet heartful story about a love gone wrong. Blake uses tone, rhyme, and figurative word choice to paint a picture with nature imagery to highlight the emotions and themes of…

I’ve been planted in a pot My roots are welded to the soil My buds are blossoming But I am fed fertilizer named Hindering Eventually these petals will be a memory My existence dust (A Marginalized Rose) These words by Francisco DH in his poem ‘A Marginalized Rose’ illuminates the mental and emotional condition of the marginalized groups and draws a picture upon the cruel social system, that disconnect a particular group from the mainstream culture and hinder their growth. Marginalization is the…