The Chimney Sweeper

1.) I do agree with the editors of the textbook. I feel Blake's poetry has the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader. I feel this is true mainly because of the strong language, or loaded words that Blake has used in poems. I feel that his diction helped to get his point across very strongly. Such as when he says,
“And because I am happy, and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery.”
I feel that part of the poem is appeals to the imagination because all I picture when I read that stanza is a young boy putting on a show for his mother and father to think he is happy working non-stop just so they can have a chance to pray; but to this boy, the reality is that this is not his heaven, it is his hell.


2.) I feel that editors may have included the Parliament transcript as a primary source document because it gives you the possible reasons as the why the Factory Act of 1833 was passed. This made my reading of Blake's work a lot harsher. I was very shocked when reading these transcripts.