The most effective poems use a specific everyday problem to describe deeper, timeless ideas. This means that the poet's contemporary audience can relate to the question, while future audiences can relate to the idea. William Blake's poetry is popular with modern readers, even though his subject matter is that of the 18th and 19th centuries. “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” were two of Blake’s poetry collections, each with a poem titled “The Chimney Sweeper.” To successfully convey his themes, Blake uses an issue of his time that is still relevant today: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay One of the biggest issues in Blake's time was the welfare of children. In his poetry, Blake uses the specific example of the chimney sweep to draw attention to a larger problem. However, the two poems “The Chimney Sweep” approach this theme of child abuse in very different ways. The poem in “Songs of Innocence” appears to be a children's nursery rhyme, with its anapestic sung rhythm and simplistic language. It is from the point of view of a chimney sweep: "So I bring back your chimneys, and in the soot I sleep", which particularly pities us and makes us think more deeply about the matter. The innocent sentiment of the nursery rhyme actually hides the satire and irony of what Blake really thinks about the problem: that these children are being exploited. This is not just a historical question; There are still huge problems with child labor in countries like China today. The second “The Chimney Sweep” takes a much more direct approach. The chimney sweep is described as "a little black thing among the snow", which shows that he is insignificant and almost inhuman. We don't take care of him, he's all alone, in the cold. Phrases such as “death clothes” and “notes of woe” directly criticize the treatment of children. Despite quite different approaches, Blake manages to successfully address the theme of child protection by targeting the daily problems of chimney sweeps as well as by exploring more timeless ideas. Another timeless idea developed by Blake is that of the role of adults. It is their responsibility to protect children, but he clearly believes that adults are shirking their duty. The first “The Chimney Sweep” focuses on the role of the father. “My Father Sold Me…” shows that, for whatever reason, the narrator was essentially abandoned by his real father. The narrator tells “little Tom Dacre,” another chimney sweep, “if he were a good boy, / He would have God for a father and never want joy.” » Here, God becomes the father figure of the children. However, the problem is that it's conditional: they will eventually receive these rewards, but only if they accept the cards they've been dealt and do their duty. Ironically, adults are supposed to care for children, not exploit them! This exploitation is also found in the poem “Songs of Experience”. “Because I was happy... They clothed me in the garments of death, / And taught me to sing the notes of woe.” The boy's parents punished him by appointing him a chimney sweep. They forced him to blacken the chimneys with a very high probability of dying, and they taught him how to sweep. This is the worst form of exploitation, where a child's own parents use them to make money. Additionally, Blake mentions "God, his priest, and his king" who profit from the "misery" of the sweep. He openly criticizes the way in which ecclesial and governmental institutions.