Poverty And Suffering In William Blake's Songs Of Innocence And Experience

This essay will discuss how William Blake represents poverty and suffering throughout his poetry in Songs of Innocence and Experience. “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence and “London” from Songs of Experience are the two poems that will be discussed in this essay. Both poems express poverty and suffering that concern with people, particularly the people who are more vulnerable in society. They also represent suffering and the hardships that are associated with it. They also reflect on what the hierarchy of England was and how it affected people, which would have also been an influenced as to why people and children were living in poverty. Blake sympathised with the Revolution which he reacted with great outbursts of freedom against

It also shows that their childhood is taken away far too soon and that they are forced to grow up. Blake uses repetition to convey the unheard suffering of the children as they cry “weep weep weep weep,” (“The Chimney Sweeper” line 3) and this also creates onomatopoeia which makes the poem sound harsh and upsetting to read. He also uses the first person proposition such as “I” and “my” to illustrate that he wanted to show the harsh reality that the children are suffering day to day though a first person viewpoint as if he wanted to narrate the poem as a child. This also emphasises the emotional quality of the poem because it creates an image that the speaker of the poem. “London” also shares this similarity with “The Chimney Sweeper” because there are similar unheard tears of suffering and labour as it

(222) This is predominately true about Blake because he is known to poet who did not have problems voicing his own opinion, especially when it came to important issues that affect the majority of people such as poverty and other issues that associated with it. The best way for him to get his message across would be throughout the representations in his poetry, which is obviously highlighted in Songs of Innocence and Experience, even if he comes across as through as he is making his mark rather than making remarks and can be seen as controversial about the human suffering that surrounds him, which is what Mandell also points out.