ENGL200B Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Infant Joy, Infante, The Chimney Sweeper
Document Summary
Displays the two states of the human soul not the good and evil, as there is good and evil in both innocence and experience. Displays two perspectives of various situations in life. Like a children"s rhyme to emphasize innocence. Matches hymns because that was all these children heard in church. Describes the lives of children who were sold to sweep chimneys, a legal practice in england until the 1890s. The child is explaining back what he has been told his condition is by his authorities. Weep sweep , but also weep, which educated readers looking back, know he should be doing in this situation. When tom gets his head shaved, the boy patronizingly (as if he is older) consoles him. This is not entirely plausible in situations of abuse, but is a condition of innocence. Angel appears, but angels are never good in blake poetry. The angel sets them free, but only after they are dead.
