William Blake Study Guide

How is the child described in "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Experience?

"a little black thing among the snow"

How is God described in "The Lamb"?

As a child, making God pure and innocent

Analyze the lines, "Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winter's snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe." ("The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Experience)

Blake suggests that the child was punished for being a kid and stripped of his innocence.

Analyze, "How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls." ("London" (Songs of Experience))

Blake suggests the Church and Monarchy are corrupt and evil. Soldiers and chimney sweepers act as pawns of these institutions, dying for God and their King respectively.

Describe the imagery of "The Lamb".

Bright, positive

How do Harlots treat children? ("London" (Songs of Experience))

Harlots "blast the new-born infants tear," suggesting they hit and shake the baby.

"The Chimney Sweeper" Background

In these two poems, Blake speaks for the poor children of his day who were forced to do backbreaking labor. In Blake's London, buildings were heated by coal- or wood-burning fireplaces, so every house had at least one chimney that had to be cleaned regularly. Poor children were often used to do this dirty and hazardous work because they could fit into the narrow chimney passages. In fact, some parents were so poverty-stricken that they sold their children to "masters" who managed crews of young sweepers. The work was dangerous, and the children were badly treated by masters concerned only with profits.

"The Lamb" Overview

One of the Songs of Innocence, this poem has often been read as a statement of Christian faith. However, we know that Blake's other writings show Christ as an active fighter against injustice, not the "meek" and "mild" lamb - a common symbol for Christ - with which this innocent speaker identifies. The speaker's viewpoint is thus an incomplete representation of Blake's beliefs - just one aspect of Blake's worldview.

Explain the oxymoron "Marriage hearse" ("London" (Songs of Experience)).

Prostitutes cannot have a marriage because of their promiscuity.

What is the state of experience?

Recognition of the doctrines being used by the English Church to socially control the masses; a profound disillusionment with human nature and society. One entering the state of experience sees cruelty and hypocrisy only too clearly but is unable to imagine a way out.

What is the prevalent device in "London" (Songs of Experience)?

Repetition is the most striking formal feature of the poem, and it serves to emphasize the prevalence of the horrors the speaker describes.

What is the Thames?

River that runs through Britain

Analyze the line, " You know that soot cannot spoil your white hair." from "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence.

The black soot contrasts the white, pure hair of the child. Spoil implies the hair, or innocence of the child, is ruined and can't be the same again if soiled.

In "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence, the coffins serve as a what?

The coffins are a metaphor for the soot-filled chimneys.

How is "The Lamb" formatted?

The first stanza asks a question. The second stanza answers the question.

"London" (Songs of Experience) Overview

The speaker wanders through the streets of London and comments on his observations. He sees despair in the faces of the people he meets and hears fear and repression in their voices. The woeful cry of the chimney-sweeper stands as a chastisement to the Church, and the blood of a soldier stains the outer walls of the monarch's residence. The nighttime holds nothing more promising: the cursing of prostitutes corrupts the newborn infant and sullies the "Marriage hearse."

What is the effect of using the names, " Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack" in "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence?

They are common names for children, making the connection more vivid and intermediate.

"The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence Overview

This poem from Songs of Innocence features a child speaker who tries to cheer himself and his fellow chimney sweep, Tom Dacre, with the thought that the oppression and poverty they endure will be compensated for by endless joy in heaven.

Analyze the line, "'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'" from "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence.

This represents the child's attempt at the chimney sweepers' cry of "Sweep! Sweep!" This horrendous job has caused a loss of innocence in the child, as emphasized by the use of onomatopoeia.

Analyze the lines, "And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark And got with our bags & our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm; So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm." ("The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence)

Tom awakes to fulfill his duty, to be a chimney sweep. This will lead him to an early grave as he has no drive to change. He is comforted by his dream of heaven.

"The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Experience Overview

Unlike the sweeper in the Songs of Innocence, this sweeper does not accept oppression and poverty believing he will be rewarded in heaven. This little speaker recognizes that the people who pray for him (his parents) are the same ones who sold him into a life of hard labor. The first three lines are spoken by an adult who comes upon the pitiful child and asks him where his parents are. The rest of the poem is the child's bitter answer to that sad question.

What animal does Blake reference in the "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence?

When describing Tom, Blake references the lamb.

"The Tyger" Overview

While almost everyone agrees that "The Tyger" is one of the most powerful of Blake's Songs of Experience, there has been much disagreement about the meaning of the poem's central symbol, the tiger itself. One possibility is that the tiger represents a strong revolutionary idea that can enlighten and transform society - a positive but volatile force Blake believed was operating in the French Revolution. The poem's speaker, at any rate, cannot comprehend such a startling energy, and can only wonder whether it is demonic or godlike.

What is the state of innocence?

a state of genuine love and naive trust toward all humankind, accompanied by unquestioned belief in Christian doctrine.

How did Blake believe the doctrines of the English Church were being used?

as a source of social control; to encourage among the people passive obedience, poverty, and inequality.

The lines, "And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins & set them all free; Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun," are an example of what?

bright imagery to contrast the dark

When the parents "praise God and his Priest and King," they are doing what? ("The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Experience)

condoning the suffering of the child

Describe the setting of the creation of the tiger.

dark, sweaty, hot

What is the purpose of the repetition of "mark" in lines 3-4? ("London" (Songs of Experience))

everything in London is tainted and worn down; suggest permanence

By labeling the Harlots as "youthful," Blake suggests they? ("London" (Songs of Experience))

have no choice but to be prostitutes

"In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear" is an example of what?

hyperbole

"want" in line 20 most nearly means what? ("The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence)

lack

When the children leave their "bags" behind in "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence, they are actually doing what?

leaving their professions behind

When Blake says "What immortal hand or eye, dare frame thy fearful symmetry?" he shifts the focus to a what?

motive; no answers provided

What device is prevalent in "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence and Experience?

parallelism

How is the creator of the tiger described?

powerful, dark, evil, mechanical

To what does "When the stars threw down their spears, and watered heaven with their tears," reference?

reference to the angels who fell with Satan and threw down their spears after losing the war in heaven.

What is the theme of "London" (Songs of Experience)?

sense of control

Define "mind-forg'd manacles"

shackle on the mind; emphasize control over thought

define "blights" ("London" (Songs of Experience)).

spoiling, ruining

"The Lamb" and "The Tyger" both include what device?

symbols

"Clothes of death" suggests what in "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Experience?

the child is aware of his fate

Why does the tiger stand out?

the orange of its eyes

Where has the child's parents gone in "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Experience?

to the church to pray, to praise God and his Priest and King.

What is the tone of "The Tyger"?

uneasy

Define hapless.

unlucky

What word best describes the creation of the tiger?

unnatural creation

In line 4, the words "frame" and "symmetry" imply that the tiger is what?

unnatural, mechanical