Loss of Innocence in Blake and Komunyakaa This

William Blake is a unique figure in English literature,

variously lionized and condemned for the visionary û and obscure û mythological system he created. Reacting against the rationalism that dominated the Enlightenment thinking of his native England in the 18th century, he placed imagination

as the central value of his philosophy, and criticised religion, morality, art, and politics from this perspective (Grolier 2). While he was widely ridiculed and even considered insane in his day for his strange ideas, no one today denies his poetic ability, and two centuries later many people, including the late Jim Morrison, lead singer for the Doors, have continued to derive inspiration from his work (Authors 5).

The narrator of ôThe Chimney Sweeperö lost his innocence ôwhen I was very youngö when his father sold him to become a chimney sweep (Bindman 48). He then describes ôlittle Tom Dacreö, a young friend presumably sharing the same unjust fate who has a dream that all chimney sweeps are awakened from their coffins (a metaphor for the oppression of their occupation) and set free by an angel so they wash off the soot of their trade and then ôrise upon the clouds and sport in the windö.

The poem has a kind of happy ending. The harsh reality of waking from his dream to discover heÆs still a chimney sweep is mitigated by the angel

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
American South, Arts Imaginationö, Tom Dacreö, William Blake, Yusef Komunyakaa, Chimney Sweeperö, Human Soul, Jim Morrison, University April, Keyö Johnson, loss innocence, chimney sweep, ôblake williamö, boyÆs joy, beckman 1, white kids, joy picking, boyÆs joy picking,
Approximate Word count = 1058
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)