In the poem Holy Thursday of innocence version, William Blake recounts the annual marching of poor children to St. Paul's Cathedral. Through these children, William Blake shows that children are innocent, and all the scenes and imaginations are holy, bright and lively. Also, in the third stanza of the poem, it shows that the children are entertaining the society that abandoned them, and that the comparison between rich and poor. Furthermore, we can easily feel that the gratitude is forced upon children. So, William Blake favors the innocent children even as he despises the system, which enslaves or abuses them. By contrast, William harshly criticizes the treatment of poor children by English society, hypocrisy of formal religion and its claimed acts of charity. Through the comparison of two versions, the poem absolutely reveals and criticizes flaws of society.
In the Chimney Sweeper of innocence version, the speaker of this poem is a small boy who was sold into chimney-sweeping business when his mother died. He describes a naive, simplistic, pure views of a child towards society. At the end of the poem, the boy believes there is going to be a happy ending, and the fear and misery will fade away. On the contrary, William depicts the child as a little black thing that shows the abominable and poor working conditions. In the second stanza, the clothes of death, showing the bad working conditions as well, refers to the soot, which is the only covering for the working sweeper. At the end of the poem, the child starts to question the existence of heaven, and that whether the heaven is filled with misery or happiness. According to the comparison, the pure virtues, plights of children, and flaws of society are prominent.
