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The Chimney Sweeper Compare And Contrast

Decent Essays

The amazing aspect of art is that it has the ability to record history, especially the difficulty or strong emotion of it. The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake, written in 1789 and again in 1794, provides a reflection of a time of harsh, child labor. Written five years apart, the two poems have similarities and differences that are observable through techniques Blake uses such as, imagery, diction, tone, mood, theme, rhyme, size, and point of view.
Now, the similarities shall be discussed. Firstly, the use of imagery in both versions display pictures of darkness, nature, brightness, and happiness. For example, the 1789 version states in line 8, “You know the soot cannot spoil your white hair,” which is parallel to line 1 of the 1794 version, “A little black thing among the snow.” Both give an image of black contrasting white: white hair and soot; soot and snow. Likewise, the 1789 version says, “Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run,” (Line 15), and the 1794 version says “And smil’d among the winter’s snow,” (Line 9). The two lines share the picture of happiness, more specifically, happiness in nature. Secondly, the use of diction, tone, and mood of the poems are similar because they are simplistic, depressing, lonesome, and sometimes cheerful. This is evident in the 1789 poem through words like: died, spoil, night, black, free, white, good, joy, dark, and harm, and in the 1794 poem through words like: black, gone, happy, snow, death, woe, and misery. As you

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