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William Blake’s View On Childhood
Introduction
William Blake, one of the leading lights of English poetry, is also a painter, visionary, and an engraver. During his time, his poetry as not very popular and was highly neglected by people, in recent years, his poetry and artwork is highly valued. One of the most known works in the poetry of William Blake is Song of Innocence and Experience (Blake). In this poetry, he believed that every child had the right to love, education, to basic needs and should never go through many struggles in life. This resulted in the fact that he had a tranquil experience in his childhood. In this essay, I will discuss his views on childhood in his four famous poems; the chimney sweeper, On another sorrow, A little girl lost, and the schoolboy.
“The Chimney sweeper.”
“The chimney sweeper” illustrates the cruelty created by the rich who have immensely increased their wealth. The riches gained through trade were used to an established big house with chimneys aimed at heating the rooms. The chimneys were constructed in a shallow structure in that they could only be cleaned by a small child crawling through them. The poem exposes the evils that arose from this sweeping, where young boys this were exposed into a trap of death and misery (Blake). The children who swept the chimneys were mainly gotten from disadvantaged conditions leaving them with limited options to survive rather than strive in these death traps.
The children were sold to their master’s house either by their impoverished parents, or they left orphans. Due to their young age, they suffered trauma in the dark chimneys, which would lead them to fall and die. In most cases, what was left behind were only bones, and the potential in a child was destroyed. In case the child survived death, they sustained severe burns, or they suffocated due to choking from the sooty dust. Additionally, the kids suffered from advanced effects such as cancer and long term illnesses.
The suffering of the young boys is evident in the five stanzas of the poem. The first stanza portrays the vulnerability of the persona. He was sold by his father when his mother died; there was the person who had the responsibility of taking care of him. Unfortunately, the father never minds about his little boy. The boy was so young he could not differentiate the word sweep and pronounced the word as weep. His dwelling place immediately changed, and he could only sleep in the sooty chimney.
In the second stanza, the persona continues explaining about a little boy who goes by the name Tom Dacre (Blake). The boy was from Almshouse was an orphan center that allowed the adoption of the young boys by the poor. Toms must have been sold by his foster father, who made sure he shaved him before selling him. The persona request Tom to maintain peace with himself and take the shaving of his hair as an advantage because it would not turn black from the soot and or catch fire. This stanza illustrates unity and comfort among the young boys, at the same time pinpointing the needy families in promoting the exploitation of their children by selling them to the rich.
The third stanza describes a vision seen by Tom while in a deep sleep after the narrator comforts him. He dreams he wins when his friends Joe, Ned, Dick, and Jack are in black coffins (Blake). The dreams describe the dangers of the boy’s face and their path to death. Luckily in the fourth and fifth stanza, a soldier comes with a key and opens the coffins, and the boys run to the river where they wash themselves the soot. Afterward, they rise in the clouds were leaving behind their black clothes. The angle promises Tom if he remains a good boy the God would be his father. These two stanzas illustrate the boys have no other help apart from setting their hope on God, who would lead them into promising futures. When the young boy wakes up, Tom contends with his situation, and he is ready to work. Despite the cold in the morning, he cannot feel it and works exceedingly in passion, knowing one day he will make and become the future of other boys who would have passed the same route.
This poem targets all the people in the society who sits down and ignores the challenges faced by the young boys. The young boys are caught in bondages of child abuse, exploitation, and poor working condition. Through the poem, society develops a second thought towards the young boys who may shape the overall path of the same community through leadership, innovation, and skills.
“On Another Sorrow”
This poem focuses on God’s unconditional love, which should also be reflected in the actions of men (Blake). Blake stresses the importance of love, kindness, and the plan of God in the lives of human beings. He begins the poem with rhetorical questions aimed at invoking thoughts in the reader to fig out about empathy. He asks the audience whether he can see a person in sorrow and never fall ideas on how to help the person. He relates God’s compassion to those who love him, and no human being can claim they love their fellow human beings unless they suffer; they feel the fate their brothers and sisters encounter.
The persona continues illustrating people should have compassion for their fellow human beings. He asks the audience whether they could see a falling tear and never share in sorrow. Additionally, he asks if a father can see his child filled with grief and never participate in the same sorrow. This analogy creates an obligation to human beings to care for their fellow who may be trapped in different calamities. The third stanza amplifies the message in the first and second stanza (Blake). The persona asks his audience whether a mother can sit down and watch his child groan in pain. The persona answers him when he says, never can it be. These phrases illustrate it’s almost impossible the o think of a situation where people do not mind the feelings and conditions of others.
Despite the different misfortunes in the world, people should never leave their fellow human beings in desperate conditions. What about those who engage in childhood abuse. This cannot be thought of and compromised. The poem likeness a mother’s and father’s love to uncompromised love. The parents who sell their children to carry out duties at a tender age abuse their positions, and they should reform and take a different route.
In the fifth stanza, the persona compares his love to God’s love (Blake). God will never sit down and watch a weeping child in the same manner the persona cannot attend a person in anguish. Those who engage in childhood abuse and watch the children go through suffering should emulate God’s action, who is the father and creator of everybody on the face of the earth. The poem goes forward to stress on God’s unbounded love in stanza six, where he cannot sit down and watch the people suffer. Repetitions of the words never can it be stress people should be concerned about the suffering and act as their master.
The last three stanzas of the poem explain how God interacts with human suffering by joining and comforting those in sorrow (Blake). By the end of the ninth verse, God gives those in the bondage of sorrow peace by taking their woes through joy. This poem stresses the importance of feeling the position of other people and allowing our capabilities and abilities to focus on giving other people peace and compassion. Similarly, people should never sit down and watch children facing child abuse through child labor, sexual assault, molestation, and forceful separation with other family members. Every person should aim at providing joy to those living in this world.
“A little girl lost.”
These poem form the songs of innocence portray the challenges faced by young couples in their tender love. This poem stanza starts with a simple address to the generation of the future. Unlike other poems in the songs of innocence, this one is likely to find meaning to the coming generation. Despite love being a beautiful and natural feeling when it happens between two young people, society views it as immoral and sinful. Young people are full of vigor and an urge to conquer the future. They must achieve their dreams, no matter what is along the way.
The poem portrays a similar situation where a young girl decides to go out and meet the love of her heart. They meet in the garden where the holy light removes the darkness in the night. In the poem, its clear the joy the two young couple enjoys. They forget about their parents, who are a significant hindrance to their love and runs throughout the playground. What an excellent site for people in love. The maiden and her love kiss until they are exhausted and agree to meet later. Despite the religious society and the church, they cannot understand these simple acts that increase the taste of life (Blake).
Despite this happiness, the young tender maiden has to meet her father at home. This becomes the hardest part of her life. The father is pale and white, holding on to the bible and ready to face her daughter, who is weak on seeing him. The religious dogma overpowers the reasoning of the father in that he cannot show compassion on what his daughter experiences and guides her through. In the end, the daughter finds herself trapped in between deciding whether to take the direction of love or hold on to her love.
Blake criticizes society on embracing more on religion rather than focusing on the essential factors that make a community successful. Without love at the building blocks of a family, it would be impossible to have a peaceful society and unlikely to develop religion. Human beings should focus more on the development of their children and the youths as they will be the pillars of tomorrow. Failure to accept the changes in a person’s path may lead to future problems as homosexual marriages.
William Blake finds its deep meaning in the current generation, which has undergone a series of problems arising from sexual confusion. Parents should guide their children and assist them in coping with all the pressure that comes with stage changes. In this case, a responsible society can be developed without bias and internal struggles arising from natural feelings. Such actions will create an understanding between parents and their kids, and they can live without strained relationships.
He also points out a common challenge where people overburden themselves with religion rather than concentrate on happiness. Religion should never be a burden to people; rather, it should be a source of nourishment to the spirits of men. God did not create human beings to burden them with rules, which will eventually deny them the true happiness of life.
“The schoolboy.”
In this poem, William Blake portrays the desperation which most of the people experience in life due to doing the things they never treasure. Most of the young people find difficulty explaining to their parents and guardians they would like to take a different path in life rather than the one deemed by most people as the appropriate one. William Blake, the author of the people, did not attend a normal school life but studied out of the interaction with nature. Nature is the best teacher who can give you permanent enjoyment in life.
In the first stanza of the poem, we encounter a happy boy who is eager to wake up in the morning and hear the birds sing. This is a spectacular experience, and this feeling gives the young boy the fulfillment he requires in life at the moment. Unfortunately, the young boy finds it difficult to wake up the same summer morning and go to school. The school routine takes all the joy of the young boy. The whole day he spends wishing he would go back home, and he has no satisfaction in education.
The third stanza continues to emphasize schoolboy encounters. He does not take delight in his books, and every time he sets to study, he feels worn out and feels some sort of frustration. This drives him to ask himself several questions, comparing himself to the birds of the air, which cannot sing once locked in a cage. Unfortunately. Little can he do apart from watch his youthful nature fly and go away. The young boy takes an extra step and questions his parents why they should allow him to suffer in the school system.
Blake targets society, which has dramatically emphasized an educational system that traps the creativity and imaginative capacity of a child. The society should focus on a different type of educational system aimed at focusing on what a child takes pleasure. A shift in what youths prefer to study would create a love for education, which will translate to magnificent results. A poor education system leads to raising people who are frustrated in their careers hence rise in the morning and go to work, not for their fulfillment, but to earn a living to meet their needs.
Conclusion
Willam Blake portrays the struggles that most encounter as they grow up in their childhood. They range from unavoidable circumstances such as the death of parents, which prompt adoption and escalation of suffering. Those who pass these challenges may find themselves trapped in a weak education system, love, and human cruelty. The children should be natured in every step of their lives by ensuring their decisions are mainly considered before deciding significant events in their life. Things such as choosing for children’s subjects should be stopped, and they should be allowed to determine what they should do.
Additionally, matters touching love it’s a personal feeling arising internally. Children should have an opportunity to decide who they should love when the time comes. What can be done is the providence of guidance in making the right choices as a youth too comes with lots of poor decisions which may affect a person’s future.
Work Cited
Blake, William. The Poems of William Blake. Vol. 1. Lawrence & Bullen, 1893.