Cultural Identity in the Poetry of Blake
Contextual issues and issues of cultural identity are addressed in this examination of William Blake's poetry.
The poetry of William Blake was and still is, to some degree, controversial. Many of his poems were scathingly critical of a society who thought themselves to be almost perfect. He wanted people to question what they had always done, and whether it was morally right. He did so by using varying techniques that set up clashes between ideologies and value systems. In The Chimney Sweeper from the ?Songs of Innocence? and London from ?Songs of Experience?, we see that employing poetic techniques to set up such clashes is relatively evident in his poetry.
In the poem, The Chimney Sweeper, Blake employs the persona of a small boy, Tom Dacre. This in it itself is a technique, using the boy as the persona elevates him as an individual. He is no longer just another young chimney sweep, he has a name, he has feelings, emotions, all things, which are mostly unrecognized by the Upper Class. Merely by employing the persona of a young chimneysweeper, Blake has set up a clash between ideologies and value systems. No longer is Tom Dacre just another face in the crowd; he is a human being, not just a means to an end for the upper class. The ideology of children being a way of making money is now confronted with the fact that these are people, who have certain basic rights and deserve some sort of dignity.
This theme of individuality is continued as he states ?There?s little Tom Dacre who cried when his head/That curl?d like a lambs back was shav?d?. However, Blake is now focusing on Tom?s loss of individuality, whereas by employing him as the persona he was demonstrating the individuality he deserved. This loss of individuality is due to his position in life, as he had to unwillingly get his head shaved to prevent it from becoming sooty. Had he been the child of wealthy upper-class parents, this would not have been necessary. The image of the lamb, a symbol of new life, and the use of the lamb in the simile which compares Tom?s hair with that of the fleece of the lamb, reinforces Blake?s contention that poor people are exploited by others and thus lose their individuality. This use of imager and simile once again sets up a clash between the accepted use of children as chimneysweeps and the value that they lose their individuality as a result of it.
The employment of the image of the lamb is also consistent with Blake?s frequent use of nature imagery to emphasize the importance of a fresh, free open world where innocence and the natural should be dominant. Blake once again uses nature to help convey the idea that soot, representing the greed and tainted morals of the exploiters, can be cleansed when Blake says ?Then down a green plain, leaping laughing they run/And wash in a river and shine in the sun?. Through this use of symbolism, Blake manages to set up a clash between the widely held belief that the Industrial Revolution is a great thing and the values that are being violated, such as people?s freedom, to achieve this progress.
In addition to this, Blake also sets up such a clash regarding The Church of England. The chimneysweepers discussed in this poem are not aided by the Church. The Church can only stand by, inarticulate, faint and helpless while these suppressed children continue to carry out their inhumane tortures. The sweepers in a dream believe an Angel would come by ?Who had a bright key/And open?d the coffins and set them all free?. This is a sign from God, yet it is symbolic of the Church itself. The chimneysweepers believe that the Church could help them, yet the reality is, as with his dream that nothing is done for them and they remain oppressed. Through this use of symbolism, Blake has set up a clash between the common belief that the Church is perfect and good in every way, to the value that they do nothing for these poor people who believe so ardently in them.
Yet another symbolic effect composed by Blake to represent the living standards of the common folk of the time was the use of coffins, ?Were all of them lock?d up in coffins of black?. This symbol illustrates the sweeper?s deathly lives, imprisoned in chimneys and locked up in poverty and ill usage. They cannot free themselves from this horrendous poverty, as the class system of the time was simply too strong. It poses the clash between the ideology that people of the upper-class were superior to those of the lower-class, such as the chimney sweeps, and the value system that if these upper-class people were as good as they professed to be, why did they not help the poverty stricken, for they certainly had the ability to do so. In effect it questions the class system and if it?s unequivocal acceptance by society is contradictory to common value systems.
In his poem London, William Blake further explores the effects of the Industrial Revolution and sets up more clashes between contemporary ideologies and value systems.
Blake expresses his critique through the usage of a progression of symbols that spread out from the ?charter?d street? to encompass the whole city where the persona notices in every face he encounters ?marks of weakness, marks of woe?. The city is therefore represented as an alienating and constricting environment and every person is marked by it. There was a common vein of thought in England of this period that London was the greatest city in the world. This ideology seems to clash with the fact that the city seems to squeeze the life out of people. This demonstrated through the use of charters, as it sets up an irony in that charters are supposedly for the good of all while in actuality the writing of a charter empowers some while disempowering others.
Blake uses figures that are clearly disempowered by society, the chimneysweep and harlot; to present to the reader the debilitating effect of a society governed by the greed and economics of the individual. This once again poses a clash between the ideology of the Industrial Revolution, where greed and power abuse where accepted, and the value system of the persona, who evidently believes in the right of the individual.
The victimization of the soldier is depicted in a similar fashion, with his blood proverbially running down palace walls, ?the hapless Soldier?s sigh/Runs in Blood down palace walls?. This demonstrates the persona?s value system of opposing institutions that are destructive to the individual, such as the monarchy and the Church. However, this clashes with the ideology of the time, which was that these to institutions were without fault, and that society in general was always more important than the individual.
Throughout the poem, Blake uses symbols of constriction, ?mind-forg?d manacles? and harsh repetition of words such as ?In every cry of every man, in every infant?s cry of fear? which creates a grating contrast to the lyrical songlike quality of the poem. This contrast is not dissimilar to the ideology that the Industrial revolution was nothing but good for society and the actual values demonstrated by the persona, who has nothing at all positive to say about the London and the effects the Industrial Revolution has had on it.
Furthermore, the repetition of the word ?every? is an attempt to highlight the fact that not only a select few are dissatisfied with the Industrial revolution everyone is unhappy about how it has influenced their lifestyle. In addition to this, no one appears happy about the immense change London has undergone due to this supposed forward step of evolution. Thus, we can identify a clash between the ideology of the Industrial Revolution and the value systems held by the persona.
It is clearly evident through the two poems London and The Chimney Sweeper from the Songs of Experience and Innocence respectively, that Blake?s poetry causes clashes between ideologies and value systems. He used techniques such as symbolism, imagery, repeated phrases and simile to achieve these clashes, for they were very much intentional. William Blake wanted society to question the way it did things and whether or not these actions where morally right. He achieved this through his poetry, relying on the intelligence of the reader to draw his own conclusions, having now been presented with an alternative point of view.
