Two poems, even though about the same subject, can paint different images and portray completely different emotions. An interesting example is that of the two poems William Blake wrote, both titled “The Chimney Sweeper.” The first, written in 1789, when read paint the same picture as the second, written in 1794, but uses different colors. The difference may be small but it is significant.
The first poem, in contrast with the second, is more hopeful and free than the other. Blake uses strong contrast to the cruelty of the chimney sweeping boy's lives. In the poem one of the boys has a dream in which an angel frees them from the “coffins of black.” They then go “down a green plain, leaping, laughing” and “wash in a river and shine in the sun.” This is the bright picture of freedom Blake paints in contrast to the imprisonment of the coffins. The boy is then told by the angel to “be a good boy and he'd have God for his father and never want joy.” This, in contrast to the hopelessness, is a painting of hope. This first poem ends with the little chimney boy awaking and even though the morning was cold he was happy and warm. A painting of bright colors and filled with a sense of hope that thing will get better.
The second poem, on the other hand, paints a picture of the same scene but with darker colors. He uses paints like “clothes of death,” “notes of woe,” and “heaven of our misery.” Blake links this poem to the first by repeating the same “weep, weep” of the first poem. Because of this link, this poem seems to be a response to the first. The second stanza confirms this assumption because is says that because the boy was happy like in the first poem his parents “clothed him with clothes of death and taught him to sing notes of woe.” This stanza is a perfect contrast. By linking it to the first poem, Blake contrasted hopefulness with misery. The two poems are a link between white and black.
