The Chimney Sweeper and the Road Not Taken
The Chimney Sweeper and The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken and The Chimney Sweeper are both interesting pieces of work, which have similarities in their meaning, interpretations, and author’s experiences that shaped the writings. Of course, there are also differences in these areas as well.
The meaning of each written work can vary widely from person to person. The Chimney Sweeper and The Road Not Taken can both be interpreted in several ways, including that of a loss of innocence. One reason for this interpretation in The Chimney Sweeper is that the speaker was sold at a young age by his father, to work as a chimney sweeper. Also, Tom Dacre dreamed of “thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black” (Blake, 1789/2007). “Though his [the speaker] few years seniority have given him a protective sense of responsibility, they have robbed him of little of his innocence” (Harrison, 1978). The speaker retells Tom’s dreams sincerely and reports on certain lines as if he believes them completely. ”Tom may weep more readily; Tom may dream of liberating angels more readily; but the speaker reports Tom’s visions as Tom told it to him, wholly without irony” (Harrison, 1978). The Road Not Taken can also be interpreted as telling about a loss of innocence although; it is more about how the choices made shape lives. Those choices, however, can lead to a loss of innocence. The choices not only affect the person that made the choice but also the people close to them including their spouse, children, parents, and siblings.”[Because,] in the poems stated intimation of the truth about human existence, as stated by Frost, is the idea of rut [the track carved out by wheels from the surface over which they travel] in its relationship to the ego” (Cervo, 1989). Each choice a person makes leads them down a different path and the effect of that choice could be a loss of innocence. “The poem’s persona is no “spiritual drifter”;
The Road Not Taken and The Chimney Sweeper are both interesting pieces of work, which have similarities in their meaning, interpretations, and author’s experiences that shaped the writings. Of course, there are also differences in these areas as well.
The meaning of each written work can vary widely from person to person. The Chimney Sweeper and The Road Not Taken can both be interpreted in several ways, including that of a loss of innocence. One reason for this interpretation in The Chimney Sweeper is that the speaker was sold at a young age by his father, to work as a chimney sweeper. Also, Tom Dacre dreamed of “thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black” (Blake, 1789/2007). “Though his [the speaker] few years seniority have given him a protective sense of responsibility, they have robbed him of little of his innocence” (Harrison, 1978). The speaker retells Tom’s dreams sincerely and reports on certain lines as if he believes them completely. ”Tom may weep more readily; Tom may dream of liberating angels more readily; but the speaker reports Tom’s visions as Tom told it to him, wholly without irony” (Harrison, 1978). The Road Not Taken can also be interpreted as telling about a loss of innocence although; it is more about how the choices made shape lives. Those choices, however, can lead to a loss of innocence. The choices not only affect the person that made the choice but also the people close to them including their spouse, children, parents, and siblings.”[Because,] in the poems stated intimation of the truth about human existence, as stated by Frost, is the idea of rut [the track carved out by wheels from the surface over which they travel] in its relationship to the ego” (Cervo, 1989). Each choice a person makes leads them down a different path and the effect of that choice could be a loss of innocence. “The poem’s persona is no “spiritual drifter”;
Bibliography: Academy of American Poets. (2012). Robert Frost. Retrieved from Poets.org: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192 Academy of American Poets. (2012). William Blake. Retrieved from Poets.org: www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/116 Bassett, P. F. (1981). Frost 's The Road Not Taken. Explicator(39), 41. Blake, W. (1789/2007). The Chimney Sweeper. In R. Abcarian, & M. Klotz, Literature and the human experience: Reading and writing (9th ed Cervo, N. (1989). Frost 's The Road Not Taken. Explicator(47), 42. Frost, R. (1915/2007). The Road Not Taken. In R. Abcarian, & M. Koltz, Literature The Human Experience Reading and Writing (shorter 9th ed., p Gallant, C. (2008). Blake 's Antislavery Designs for "Songs of Innocence and of Experience". Wordsworth Circle(39), 123-130. George, W. W. (1991). Frost 's The Road Not Taken. Explicator(49), 230. Harrison, J. (1978). Blake 's The Chimney Sweeper. Explicator(36), 2. Ryan, M. (2011). William Blake 's Analysis of Melancholia. Retrieved from Modern Humanities Research Association: