"The Chimney Sweeper" Poetry and Social Change

1) Do you agree with the editors of your textbook that Blake's poetry had the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader?

I do agree with the editors of the textbook that Blake's poetry, and the work of other romantic poets had the power to enact social change. Especially with a poem such as "The Chimney Sweeper"people were awakened to the harsh conditions and were made aware of the hardships that children were actually going through. After reading this poem in this time period, I at least got the impression that change did occur, that poverty was ended and proper working conditions were provided for children and adults alike.

2) Why might the editors have included the Parliament transcript as a primary source document? How did it affect your reading of Blake's work?

I think to editors included the Parliament transcript to show us, the modern day reader, actually how the change occurred. After reading Blake's poetry, everyone thinks that change happened immediately and everything was fine. However, the excerpt from Parliament shows that change actually took longer to come into place and in our society today we are still struggling with changing the negative and bringing more positive into our society.