CARMEN PASCUAL SASTRE

PAPER III

(William Blake, from Songs of Innocence, 1789)

THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue,
Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep.
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl'd like a lambs back, was shav'd, so I said.
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.

And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was sleeping he had such a sight,
That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe Ned & Jack
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free.
Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm,
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

http://www.online-literature.com/blake/628

(William Wordsworth, 1815)
 
I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD
 
 
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
 
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
 
The waves beside them danced: but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the snow to me had brought:
 
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/514

In this paper I am going to compare a poem of two different romantic poets, in order to see the similarities and the differences between them. The poems I have chosen are The Chimney Sweeper, from Blake and I wandered lonely as a cloud, from Wordsworth. Since the very beginning we can see that the two titles are very easy to understand, both of them deal with common place words, words which are accessible to everybody such as chimney sweeper, the verb to wander or the substantive cloud. In other words, these two romantic poets use a vocabulary which is close to the normal people.

While, at first sight, the main ideas in Blake’s poem are images of children in a world in which people are exploited and it seems that Wordsworth only speaks about nature, there are some parallelisms between these two poems.

The Chimney Sweeper begins with a sad paragraph; the author said that he was sold to a chimney sweeper at a very early age. Then the figure of another child, Tom Dacre, appears. And everything is dark and dirt because of the soot and the extremely poor and bad condition in which they live. However, there is a change of mood or images in the third paragraph, here the poet explains that Tom dreams with an angel who comes and opens the “black coffin” to set their chimney sweeper friends free, together with him. In this stanza it is worthy to note the contrast between the black images described until here, with the bright, clear and brightly ones used from now on, as for example: bright key, in line 13. Since there, Blake describes a natural landscape where the children are laughing and cleaning themselves in a river. He uses metaphors as They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind in line 18. To finish, the author explains that Tom awakes and faces the reality, but this time he is happy because he knows that if he does his duty he will be better off.

Having explained the meaning and the main ideas of this poem included in Song of Innocence, it is important to realise that Blake uses the nature as a paradise, as a thing or a place in which everybody is free and happy, somewhere in which people show their inner most feelings with no fear because all the people are the same status in front of nature. Moreover, with the example of Tom Dacre the author wants to show us that after having dreamt with the nature the child feels better, he feels in a happier mood to confront the reality, it works as a kind of therapy.

On the other hand, Wordsworth’s poem is a full description of a group of daffodils. He begins saying that he was wandering when he saw some daffodils. And from the first paragraph until the last one he describes the picture; a landscape whose main protagonists are these yellow flowers. He uses sentences such as A host of golden daffodils, in line 4, or Tossing their heads in sprightly dance, in line 12, to personalize the daffodils. Furthermore, he not only uses this kind of metaphors for the device of personalization, but for an incredible description of the scenery. In line 5, saying Beside the lake, beneath the trees, he foregrounds the sentence with an alliteration of the [b] sound. Going forward, in lines 7 and 8 he uses a comparison together with a metaphor to say Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way. And with this wide range of images of the nature in her purest state, the author gives to the reader the idea of the beauty of nature.

Therefore, the most important feature that both poems share is related to the theme. Both of them speak of the nature as a relaxing place; A poet could not be gay, In such a jocund company (Wordsworth’s poem). In the case of Blake’s poem, nature’s role is also to open the eyes of the young chimney sweeper, but at the same time, this can be seen as a positive experience. After the angel having opened the coffin, the children laugh, run, wash and shine in a green plain. While in the previous part of the poem, all have to do with sadness.

Another important parallel feature to mention is that both texts contain some binary concepts, which can be seen as concepts of much of English Romanticism as: before and after or innocence and experience. In The Chimney Sweeper the contrast is quite noticeable, since the three first paragraphs tell all the dark and negative things of the poem; when his mother sold him and the image of Tom crying because his head is going to be shaved, for instance. On the contrary, during the last three ones, the adjectives used are: bright, free, green, naked, good, cold, happy and warm. The change from innocence to experience can be examined in the last line of the poem. The sentence So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm, contrast with the work of a chimney sweeper, a hard and risky work. So in the poem it is shown the change from hard and tough work, representing ignorance and innocence, to a rational conclusion related to experience.

In Wordsworth’s poem this evolution to experience and to an “after”, can be examined through some linguistic features. Firstly, there is a movement from ‘I’ as a subject to a non personal subject. While during the first half of the poem the author uses the pronoun ‘I’, during the second half he prefers expressions such as ‘my heart’ or ‘a poet’. He uses once the first personal pronoun, but he places it at the end of the line. Another important device is the use of the past tense on the whole poem apart from the last paragraph, in which Wordsworth chooses the present, illustrating then the change from before to after. Furthermore, these differences inside the poem allow the reader to see and to understand the change from innocence to experience. The author is describing the nature, focusing on a group of daffodils, in a past tense, as a dream or a previous experience. He represents the feelings he had once when he was wandering trough nature. All of them positive feelings, but just feelings, instinctive actions and emotions, sensations that have to do with innocence. And during the last paragraph, all of a sudden he changes to a present situation, a real experience.

In both cases, the authors end the poem stating a conclusion after an experience related to the nature, always a positive experience which draws a positive conclusion.