The most effective poems use a specific everyday problem to represent deeper, timeless ideas. This means that the poet's contemporary audience can identify with the issue, while future audiences can identify with the idea. William Blake's poetry is appreciated by 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 from his time period that is still relevant today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One of the major issues in Blake's time was the welfare of children. In his poem, Blake draws on the specific example of the chimney sweep to draw attention to a larger problem. However, the two poems "The Chimney Sweep" portray 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 sing-song anapestic rhythm and simplistic language. It is from the point of view of a chimney sweep: “So I sweep your chimneys, and in the soot I sleep,” that particularly arouses our pity and makes us think more deeply about the matter. The nursery rhyme innocence, in fact, actually hides the satire and irony of what Blake really thinks about the problem: that these children are being exploited. This too is not just a historical question; there are still huge problems with child labor in countries like China today. The second "The Chimney Sweep" has a much more frank approach. The chimney sweep is described as “A little black thing in the snow,” demonstrating his insignificance and almost inhuman nature. He is not being cared for, he is all alone, outside, in the cold. Phrases such as “clothes of death” and “notes of pain” directly criticize the treatment of children. Despite quite different approaches, Blake manages to successfully tackle the topic of child welfare by tackling the everyday problem of chimney sweeps and 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' examines the role of the father. “My father sold me…” shows that, whatever the reason, the narrator has essentially been 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 his father, and would never want joy." Here God is becoming the father figure for children. However, the problem is that it is conditional: they will eventually receive these rewards, but only if they accept the cards they have been dealt and do their duty. Ironically, adults are supposed to care for children, not exploit them! This exploitation also occurs in the poem from "Songs of Experience". “Because I was happy… They dressed me in the clothes of death, / And taught me to sing the notes of pain.” The boy's parents punished him by naming him a chimney sweep. They forced him to blacken himself on chimneys with a very high probability of dying, and taught him to sweep. This is the worst form of exploitation, where the child's parents use him to earn money. Furthermore, Blake mentions “God and his Priest and King” who are taking advantage of the “misery” of the roundup. He openly criticizes how the institutions of the Church and government are abusing their duty to care for these innocent children. Since Shakespeare's time, the role of.