... speakers is their amount of experience. When reading poem 1, I was left with the impression that the speaker was innocent, nave and a good-natured little boy. He does not question his current life situation, because he does not know any better. Even though he tells us that his father sold him, he ... Many of them would die very young because of soot poisoning, diseases, or accidents during work. They would simply be replaced by another and possibly even younger boy. I believe that Blake uses the word lamb as a symbol of how these boys were sacrificed in their line of work. The speaker in...

• Word Count: 2076
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... from the child's point of view as punishing him for being so happy by "clothing in the clothes of death and teaching him to sing the notes of woe."(Line 7) It is very obvious that the child feels hate towards his parents for putting him in such sadness, but instead he chooses ... to hide it by making himself look happy and satisfied. The color black seems to be very important because it is used to represent sin against innocence, the color of the white snow. Blake used a lot of ... and disturbing picture in the reader's head. For example, when Blake wrote " A little black thing among t...

• Word Count: 794
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the sweet and gentle God of Innocence, created or allowed the creation of the miseries that abound in Experience. According to A. Powell, "The author notes that the perfect, beautiful, symmetrical, work of art (the tyger) is such a destructive animal: here Blake is identifying the idea that there, in ... poem depict the hypocritical nature of those parents, who "clothed [their children] in the clothes of death, And taught [them] to sing the notes of woe". Parents assessed the effects of chimney sweeping by observing external signals; "And because I am happy, & dance & sing, They ... est...

• Word Count: 2556
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... the poems in Songs Of Innocence "are charmingly lyrical, written with almost childlike simplicity," they carry a powerful, spiritual message of God (B-281). In this particular poem the speaker is "a little black thing among the snow". One reason this poem is not an "all may read" poem is because if the reader is not familiar with Blake's work he or she may ... the head, but this poem is in "Songs of Experience" so Blake expects the reader to be experienced enough to have read "Innocence" and understand that when he says "little black thing". And when he talks about "thy father and mothe...

• Word Count: 2002
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... attempts to answer the question. He says that he who made him also calls himself a Lamb and we are called by his name. The Little Black Boy is the next poem. This poem is about a little black child and his mother. The mother teaches her child about God and how he loves everyone. He created everyone the way they are and loves them ... the way he made them. He doesn't care if you are black or white, when he comes to take you up to heaven with him it makes no difference. As long as you live according to his ways, he pays no attention ... of a young child that is happy, but those that were...

• Word Count: 1008
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... is a continuous cycle. Blake expresses in "The Chimney Sweeper" that humankind is not part of the solution but part of the problem. The image of a "black" child suggests that it is covered in filth and soot because he is forced by society to do his or her duty as a chimneysweeper. Blake suggests that society ... 's snow"(5-6), which suggests that he was then put into a woeful life for a child's happiness is not allowed. The images of "clothes of death"(7) and "notes of woe" suggest that it is humans who direct the children into a life of oppression. Finally, Blake criticizes what the peo...

• Word Count: 1046
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School