The Chimney Sweeper (Experience)

Now we come to the antitype of the previous Chimney Sweeper poem, but this one takes the perspective of a chimney sweeper who has moved into Experience, thereby developed an awareness of how the Church condones his circumstances.

The Chimney Sweeper (Experience)

A little black thing among the snow,

Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!

Where are thy father & mother? say?

They are both gone up to church to pray.

Because I was happy upon the heath,

And smil’d among the winters snow:

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

And because I am happy, & dance & sing,

They think they have done me no injury:

And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King

Who make up a heaven of our misery.

Form & Structure

Unlike the Innocence poem, The Chimney Sweeper of Experience takes the form of a dialogue between the speaker who finds the young sweep, and the sweeper himself.

The first quatrain consists of closed rhyming couplets, and they are self-contained so to serve as an intro to the plight of the sweeper. The other two quatrains follow an ABAB rhyme scheme as a continuation of his narrative of sorrow.

Stanza One

The first stanza introduces the cold-hearted nature of the world in introducing a “little black thing among the snow”. By describing the sweep as a “little black thing”, this echoes the condescending pitying tone of “poor little thing”, portraying a contrived failure of empathy of the speaker.

The monosyllabic onomatopoeia of “weep weep” slows the line down as the tone of the poem switches from introductory to reflective, and these are in “notes of woe” because his “father & mother” should be caring for the child, rather than abandoning him in the harsh coldness of winter.

In mentioning “the church”, while the sweep is trying to justify why his parents abandoned him, this is also Blake delivering a blunt condemnation to organised religion who condoned the sorrow of these young sweeps, and “make up a heaven” of their misfortune.

Stanza Two

By starting with “Because”, the sweep attempts to justify his mistreatment, both psychologically and physically, but this also adopts a tone of bitterness. Unlike the speaker in the Innocence antitype, this sweeper’s innocence has given way to experience, giving him an understanding and awareness of the hypocrisy of the State and Church. This is contrary to what Blake wrote of ignorance in innocence:

“Innocence dwells with wisdom but never with Ignorance.”

Blake uses a semantic field of positive language such as “happy” and “smil’d” highlights the justification of his abandonment: out of jealousy because of his happiness. Once again, the sweep mentions the “winters snow” to heighten the force of the scene through winter. Like in the Experience poem “Nurse’s Song”, the sense of perversity of adult’s being jealous of their children’s happiness, and a desire to repress their youth is echoed.

Stanza Three

Despite his bitterness, the sweep continues to sing his “notes of woe”, but because of this, people misunderstand that he is still happy, whereas he is actually trying to make the best of things, but this means they feel able to justify their actions, that they have “done me no injury”.

But the climbing boy reverts back to his bitter tone in condemning “God & his Priest & King”, because the speaker knows what he’s been sold into. This Song of Experience presents a dark, savage vision compared to Innocence.

While in Innocence Tom Dacre has heaven to look forward to, but in Experience, the speaker is lost behind the hypocrisy of the Church. This is in line with the belief of Rousseau:

“Man is born free but is everywhere in chains.”

Critic Dykstra also notes:

“In Blake’s poems institutions and their subjects uphold cruel and unjust social systems.”

If you’re going to compare and contrast these two poems, it is important that you note their differing perspectives from Innocence and Experience, and how this alters the tone and the nature of their condemnations.