True or False?
The "Chimney Sweeper" in Blake's Songs of Innocence has good life circumstances while the "Chimney Sweeper" in his Songs of Experience has bad life circumstances.
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The statement is true. In William Blake's collection of poetry, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, the "Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Innocence is portrayed as having relatively good life circumstances, while the "Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Experience is depicted as having challenging and unfortunate circumstances.
To arrive at this conclusion, you can analyze the poems themselves. In "The Chimney Sweeper" of Songs of Innocence, the young chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, is viewed as innocent and naïve. He appears to be content, hopeful, and optimistic about his current situation, believing that he will be rewarded in heaven for his suffering.
On the other hand, in "The Chimney Sweeper" of Songs of Experience, also titled "The Chimney Sweeper (When my mother died I was very young)," the narrator's circumstances are grim. His mother's death at an early age seems to mark the beginning of his unfortunate life as a chimney sweeper. The poem reveals the exploitation and mistreatment suffered by child chimney sweepers, conveying themes of lost innocence, despair, and societal injustice.
By comparing the two poems, it becomes evident that the "Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Innocence has a more positive outlook, while the one in the Songs of Experience faces adversity and hardship.