Romantic Period Essay

Heidi Soltis

Ms. Wilson

Brit Lit B

9 May 2013

Romantic Period Essay

            The Romantic Period was a new way of life following the French Revolution that lasted between the years 1798-1832. (Odell 708). Romanticism was a way for people to “enter a dream world” that is full of magic and imagination, used to escape from the “ugly industrial world” they were living in. (Odell 708). William Blake, an English poet, painter, and printmaker, wrote “The Chimney Sweeper Poems: Songs of Innocence & Experience”, in which he uses childish imagination, idealism, and individualism to emphasize the impact innocence has on perception.

            Imagination is a type of thinking that diverged from previous rational and logical thinking, giving people a creative route to escape the struggles of their lives. (Wilson 8). In “Songs of Innocence” two young chimney sweepers are happily conversing with one another and use imagination to escape the horrible jobs they must face as a chimney sweeper, “. . .thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack/ Were all of them locked up in coffins of black./ And by came an angel, who had a bright key,/ And he opened the coffins, & set them all free” (ll. 11-14). This shows the children fantasize about being set free to take their minds off the hardships they must face daily. In “Songs of Experience”, however, Blake uses a different, more bitter tone and chooses to not even include imagination, for the chimney sweeper in this piece “was happy” until he was put in “clothes of death” and taught “to sing the notes of woe” (Blake ll. 5-8). This shows a loss of innocence in the chimney sweeper for he no longer can imagine a way out of these hardships.

            Idealism, the concept that we can make the world a better place (Wilson 4), is also used in Blake’s two poems to portray the outlook the different sweepers have on life. For example in “Songs of Innocence” the sweeper is much more optimistic and believes he will be rewarded in heaven for his hard work and suffering he must face on earth, “So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm” (Blake 24). The sweeper in this piece uses his mind over matter in order to see the world through a more positive outlook. However, in “Songs of Experience” the chimney sweeper’s outlook on life is not so positive for he dwells on his belief that God will “. . .make up a heaven of our misery” (Blake ll. 11-12). He allows his negative mindset to get in the way of escaping the cruel, industrial world, for he has allowed himself to lose his innocence or “naïve trust toward all humankind” (Odell 718).

            Individualism impacts the perceptions of the two chimney sweepers from Blake’s two poems. The sweeper in “Songs of Innocence” has lost his mother when he was very young, and his father sold him before he “could scarcely cry ‘weep!’ ‘weep!’ ‘weep!’’ (Blake ll. 1-3). So he was completely alone in the world at a young age. In order to cope with this loniliness he allowed himself to escape into the world of imagination and blindly trust humankind for he wants to be able to trust in something. This helps him stay positive and survive through these horrible times he must face alone. The sweeper from “Songs of Experience” is also alone, but more psychological than physical. He has parents, but he has lost his trust in them because of their hypocritical ways. For example “they are both gone up to church to pray” (Blake 4). This is both hypocritical and ironic because his parents are at church praying for him for he is alone sweeping chimneys, when in reality they are the ones who sold him into oppression in the first place. This causes the chimney sweeper to have a lack of trust for his own parents, making him feel even more alone in the world.

            The young chimney sweepers from “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” allow their innocence, or lack of experience, to affect their perceptions of the world and themselves. The tools of imagination, idealism, and individualism are all ways to help escape the sufferings of the world and have something to inspire them, when the people in it may not be. For example the chimney sweeper from “Songs of Innocence” has a more positive outlook on life for he allows himself to see past the current hard times and look forward to the future and the rewards he will be  given in heaven for he is still innocent and unconditionally trusting the world. The chimney sweeper from “Songs of Innocence”, however, has already experienced the “cruelty and hypocrisy” of the world, specifically through his "neglecting" parents, which makes him unable to imagine a way out.