William Blake had two different sets of poems published with each depicting a different contrary state of the human soul. "The Chimney Sweeper," is a poem in both the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. Both of the poems are about a child and his life as a chimney sweeper. ...

"The Chimney Sweeper" From Songs of Innocence William Blake's Songs of Innocence comprises "songs of happy cheer" about field and flower, hill and stream, and the innocence of child and lamb, as seen through the eyes of a child (World Book vol.2 pg 314). In one excerp...

London and the Chimney Sweeper The poems London and the Chimney Sweeper were both written by William Blake. Both poems were written around the same time and were written to show the cruelty of city life. Blake wanted to give us a strong visual picture in our minds of what workers in the 1800...

To be "optimistic" is to "believe that good things will happen in the future". Most readers would balk at the poems within Songs of Innocence and Experience is described thus. Afterall the collection is meant as a contradiction to Songs of Innocence – the latter showing life through the eyes o...