FREE ESSAY ON WILLIAM BLAKE AS A CRITIC OF HIS TIME

WILLIAM BLAKE AS A CRITIC OF HIS TIME

William Blake As A Critic Of His Time
Blake took an active role in exposing the corruption taking place in his society. Prime
targets of his criticisms were the institutions that remained silent in the faces of
injustice. Blake stands agains the institutions that allow human oppression. Three of his
poems from Songs of Experience present his views on the matter:  The Chimney Sweeper, The
Garden of Love, and London.
In The Chimney Sweeper, Blake takes his stand against the the calamities brought upon
children by those supposed to protect him. Innocence comes to an end for the child when
he is exposed to the horrors of sweeping chimneys . His sadness can be felt when he says
: They clothed me in the clothes of death/and taught me to sing the notes of woe (Blake,
6-7). The child is telling society that his pain is being caused by those in whom he put
his trust- his parents. Even more disconcerting is to know that his parents do nothing to
stop his horrors. They abandon him and go ...to praise God & his Priest & King (Blake,
11). Perhaps they do this , because on the outside their child looks happy and they
probably think that they are helping him more than anything: ' And because I am happy, &
dance& sing,/ They think they have done me no injury, (Blake, 9-10) . In the meantime,
the church is also playing a part in his misery. How? Because it allows the parents to
come inside its building to pray when they should be protecting their child from all
harm: 'They are both gone up to the church to pray' (Blake, 4). .....a heaven of our
misery (Blake, 12) finally emphasizes to the reader once more those who are responsible
for the child's pain and sorrows . He hopes that, somehow, people would take action and
do away with the calamity of child labor. 
In another one of his poems, The Garden of Love, Blake portrays religion as the oppressor
of human kind. Man wants to be close to God : I went to the Garden of Love (Blake, 1) as
he used to be when little: Where I used to play in the green (Blake, 4) but, finds the
church standing in his way: A Chapel was built in the midst (Blake, 3). Blake sees the
church as an obstacle between men and God: And the gates of this Chapel were shut/ And
Thou shalt not writ over the door (Blake, 5-6). Blake gives emphasis to the word Thou
shalt not to indicate once more how oppressive the church is. He attacks the Priests
because, instead of offering God's comfort as they were meant to do, they become like
judges or police officers telling men what they can or cannot do:: And Priests in black
gowns were walking their rounds/ And binding with briars my joys and desires (Blake, 11-
12). Blake asks society to take a second look at the way the church treats them and to
realize that God cannot found among oppressionists.
London is yet another one of Blake's poems used to expose the suffering of men. He speaks
of the streets and the river as being bound to give a sense of men's predicament: I
wander thro' each charter'd street/Near where the charter'd Thames does flow (Blake, 1-2)
. More sense of human slavery is given when he reveals that the minds of men are trapped
as they wander suffering through the streets by society-imposed chains:...mind-forg'd
manacles I hear (Blake, 8). The pain is obvious to Blake and he wants society to take
notice of it: .....in every face I meet/mark of weakness, marks of woe [I see] (Blake, 4)
Church again is brought into the picture with its qualities of indifference: ....the
Chimney-sweeper's cry/ Every blackning Church appalls (Blake ,9-10). Because of
prostitution, the blessings of marriage has turned into death and decay, giving yet more
sense of despair: .....the youthful Harlot's curse/...plagues the Marriage hearse (Blake,
14&16). Blake is telling the people to wake up, look around them and take action against
this kind of slavery.
In conclusion, it can be easily seen how Blake stood against the suffering of human kind
and used his poems to expose the corruption of the world that surrounded him. He clearly
critized the society and hoped that people would take action to change things for the
better. The problems in Blake's society aren't very different than the ones in today's
world. People should take a good look around them and take action to better their
surroundings.
Works Cited
Blake, William. The Chimney Sweeper (SE). The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
Ed. M. H. Abrams, et al. 7th edition. Vol 2. New York: Norton, 2000. 52
The Garden of Love. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M. H.
Abrams, et al. 7th edition. Vol 2. New York: Norton, 2000. 56
 London. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M. H. Abrams,
et al. 7th edition. Vol 2. New York: Norton, 2000. 56