Essay on the Chimney SweepWriters and artists are influenced by the culture of their time. They respond to the world around them through their work. In the 18th century, England was plagued by the gruesome repercussions of the Industrial Revolution. One of these repercussions was the child labor of the time, where boys aged between five and six were forced to work in harsh conditions, sweeping chimneys or working in factories. William Blake used his Romantic writing style to comment on these ever-increasing corruptions of the world. Blake's chimney sweep poems use opposing ideas of innocence and experience to describe the world he sees through the use of literary devices. Blake uses strong imagery to represent the feelings of his poems. A strong component used was the images of light and darkness in both poems, with the boy covered in soot contrasting against the white snow in Songs of Experience. This darkness was used to describe the death and desperation brought by labor. These, “death clothes”, were made with soot but in a literal and metaphorical sense (SoE). Sweeping a chimney could mean death for a boy who panicked when he hid his leg or fell during a job. The color black was also used in Songs of Innocence, as the boy described the "coffins of black" and how the boys were locked in them (SoI). These black coffins were used to represent the boys' social status and the imminent death they face. Additionally, Blake used the boy's hair color to further play between light and dark. In Songs of Innocence, "little Tommy Dacre" was distressed when his head was shaved to prevent parasites and soot from entering it (SoI). The narrator's response was that it was done so that the soot would not stain the boy's white hair... in the center of the paper... ionized in the mind, as one would talk to any boy at a young age. The man reacts as if it were a normal sight, a guy covered in dirt with a broom and thinks nothing of it. Blake uses it to show the misery of the world. The man did not immediately take the boy out of the cold and did not dress him. He simply asks where his parents were. Storytellers are used to showing the perspectives of child innocence in Songs of Innocence and the status quo of sin in Songs of Experience with these children forced to sweep chimneys and put themselves in danger. But at least the chimneys are clean. Blake uses several techniques in his poems to comment on the disgusting world he sees around him. A world where kids are sent to do a gruesome task. He approaches this commentary with his depictions of innocence and experience and captures them through his literary devices.