Social hierarchies function to elevate a group of elite citizens to a superior position, thereby disempowering groups below them in terms of of rank. William Blake was one of the most prolific British Romantic poets of the 18th century, leaving a poetic legacy largely unrecognized until after his death due to his working-class social position. Blake focused on the plight of the working classes who lived and worked in inhumane conditions during the Industrial Revolution. He was a politically motivated social critic and his ideas still resonate strongly with social and political egalitarians today. His poetry books Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794) contain many poems that combine and can be read dialectically to reveal two ways of seeing similar issues, one from the understanding of one childish spirit and the other of a being. with a better knowledge of the world. "Chimney Sweeper" from both books reveals the construction of a social hierarchy in Blake's society that disempowered the working classes by forcing them to submit to the (Christian) Church and state, as well as 'by oppressing working class children who often had no choice. but to carry out work such as dangerous chimney sweeping. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In “Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence, Blake subtly constructs the social hierarchy that represses the working class. He criticizes the institution of the Church of England and the rigid system of monarchy from the point of view of a childish mind aware of the social structures that constrict them, but not wise or experienced enough to understand their implications. The character is a chimney sweep whose "mother died when [he] was very young", after which his "father sold him" into the chimney sweep trade. From this line, it can be inferred that the character's family belongs to the working class of British society, Blake's focal society, where it was common for families to lose members to illnesses that today would be easily cured through to modern medicine. The wide gap that existed between the working class and the middle class meant that working class families lived in relative extreme poverty, leading many to resort to "selling" their children into dangerous or unhealthy occupations for earn money, such as working in workshops or chimney sweeping. . The character uses the metaphor of "black coffins" to describe the chimneys in which boys like him work. These “coffins” are symbols of death representing the fate that awaits chimney sweeps who end up dying from breathing carcinogenic soot into their lungs at such a young age. age. They also symbolize the rigidity of the social hierarchy in England, of which the young sweepers are a part. Blake constructs a hierarchy from which they will never be sufficiently empowered to free themselves, reflecting the reality of 18th-century England which generally prevented people from improving their social position, particularly those in the working class. The social hierarchy that Blake manifests in “Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence is implicitly constructed in that the character has only limited awareness of his position. The poem of the same name in Songs of Experience more explicitly constructs the hierarchy of 18th-century Britain, revealing the superior position of church and state over therest of society, subjugating the masses and demanding their total submission. The character in this poem is a more vocal, bitter, and hopeless social critic. This is evident through his use of figurative language such as his cry of “Cry!” Cry!" to symbolize the trauma of chimney sweeping on young boys, "cry" is not found by chance in the word "chimney sweep". The influence of the Church is evident in the character's explanation that his mother and his father "went up to the purple church" while endangering their own child's life as a chimney sweep, apparently not caring enough about him to prevent him from being dressed "in the garments of death In other words, Blake suggests that parents seal their son's fate every day that they force him to work within the confines of the fireplace. The institution of the Church held a dominant position over a large part. of Blake's society, as it offered charity to struggling families and church leaders often held positions of power within government and communities. This thus required working families to maintain excellent relationships with. the church so as not to offend the parish in which they resided, in particular by attending mass as in the example of the chimney sweep parents. Blake implies that the Church is more concerned with maintaining the hierarchy than with the well-being of children, thus leaving parents with no choice but to have the same priority. This elevates the importance of the Church in society while ensuring that working class families submit to the will of the Church. Blake emphasizes this because of his own dislike of institutions, particularly the Church. He viewed religions as institutions of oppression, which privileged the masses incapable of opposing the domination of the Church. While the character in this poem says that his mother and father pray "before God, his Church and his king", the term "king" metaphorically refers to the State, at this time closely linked to the Church because the religion of the British kings determined Britain. religion - in Blake's time, Christianity. The state or "king" sits at the top of the British social hierarchy, with aristocrats and nobility empowered by the "paradise made of [the misery]" of the working classes and the profits that the ruling elites derived from the industrial revolution. Thus, in the darker and more overtly critical “Chimney Sweep” found in Songs of Experience, the social hierarchy supports the high position of church and state at the expense of the working class. Finally, in both poems, Blake succeeds in constructing a "third party" to reestablish and cement the idea that the elite and middle classes play a largely dominant role over the working classes. In doing so, Blake appears to be speaking to his target audience, those fortunate enough to read poetry, a form of text that in the 18th century was generally only readable by those from the middle and upper classes who had completed a formal education. expensive public school education. In the Songs of Innocence version of the poem, the character addresses a new, unnamed group, saying, "So I sweep your chimneys and sleep in the soot." » The chimney sweep is aimed at the privileged middle and upper classes who could afford the services of a chimney sweep and had the means to maintain their authority, such as money and the necessary goods. They held a superior position over chimney sweeps and other workers who had no means of seeking a life beyond their lower place in the hierarchy. The position of the ruling elite juxtaposes that of “thousands of chimney sweeps all locked in.”