William Blake, classified as a Pre-Romantic, reflected his thoughts of man’s growth in his poetry. “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence and “Holy Thursday” and “London” from Songs of Experience reveal Blake’s theory of two of the stages of man’s development.  “The Chimney Sweeper” describes Blake’s view of Innocence, the first stage. “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Experience shows Blake’s view on Experience, the second stage, as does “London.”

     The first stage, Innocence, is described as when a soul is complete in itself, just as it had come from God. It is pure and has no knowledge of the evils of the outside world. “The Chimney Sweeper” embodies this first stage through the character of “little Tom Dacre” (5), a young chimney sweep who has been sold into the chimney sweeping business by his father. Tom’s first action is not crying about his situation, but crying about his head being shaved. Later on that night, Tom dreams that

                     Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack

                     Were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black;

                     And by came and Angel that a bright key,

                     And he open’d the coffins & set them all free… (11-14)

The angel tells Tom that if he’s a good boy “[H]e’d have God for his father & never want joy” (20). With this reassurance, Tom wakes up and tells the dream to his fellow sweepers, who then go to work with the thought that “if all do their duty, they need not fear harm” (24). Tom’s dream gives the sweepers a hope that pushes them to keep living. The irony in this is that the dream is a desire for death, “all their bags left behind” (17).

 

     Experience, the second stage, is portrayed as when the soul becomes aware of the evils and woes that result when the complexities of life have thwarted the goodness of man. “Holy Thursday” is a cynic’s view of the procession of orphan children to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The hand that feeds them, “cold and usurous”, has no love for the children it maintains, just indifference. The poet even registers shock that the children’s “trembling cry” (5) can be a song of happiness, considering that they are “[B]abes reduced to misery” (3). The poet bypasses the innocence of the children to focus on the evils of the situation. In his eyes, the children’s

                                        …sun does never shine,

                         And their fields are bleak & bare,

                         And their ways are filled with thorns;

                         It is eternal winter there. (9-12)

He is disgusted with the system that keeps the children poor, certain that:

                         …Where-e’er the sun does shine,

                        And where-e’er the rain does fall,

                        Babe can never hunger there,

                        Nor poverty the mind appall. (13-16)

The poet no longer sees the children singing; he sees the evil in the society, missing their song’s meaning.

     In “London”, the poet walks through the streets, commenting on the things he sees and hears. The poet begins to “mark in every face I meet/ Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (3-4).  He is sickened with how the chimney sweepers’ cry is met not with horror, but with a lack of concern over the child’s welfare. The Church, which

should be protecting the child chimney sweeps, is instead covered with soot from the chimneys that the sweeps cleaned. Wandering further, the poet comments “…the hapless Soldier’s sigh/Runs in blood down Palace walls” (11-12), although the dead body is never officially placed at the king or queen’s doorstep. Blake does not fully blame the institutions of the Church and the Palace; the people have let themselves be placed in these situations by “mind-forg’d manacles” (8). The cries of the city do not end when the sun goes down, however, for Blake can hear “the youthful Harlot’s curse” (14) as her newborn baby, born into this world, has already been deformed by venereal disease. Blake describes the Harlot’s plight as a “Marriage hearse” (16), because the love that it started with has ended with destruction. There is no Innocence to be found in Blake’s view of London, only Experience.

     In conclusion, “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence and “Holy Thursday” and “London” from Songs of Experience reveal Blake’s theory of two of the stages of man’s development. While Experience is embodied in “Holy Thursday” and “London”, Innocence still prevails in “The Chimney Sweeper.”