Poetry and Social Change

This is a response to the question 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 when they say that Blake had the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader. This is only because while reading I was able to see a starving child in the streets. I was able to feel the child's pain because Blake wrote in first person. So it was like hearing the child tell of their problems. In the "Chimney Sweeper" The Songs of Innocence Blake has children discussing their troubles, and one little boy make the situation a test of God. By telling his friend that they are suffering in life in order to be happy in Heaven when they die. This can enact change by people reading this text and feeling sympathetic for the children, so they take action and go help little children in need. If it was a parent of one of the children that this story relates to, the parent might start to feel bad for putting their child in that situation. Since they feel bad they might have their children stop. Another way this might enact social change is by people who have these children sweeping chimneys probably would try to make the situation easier for the child to deal with.
In “The Chimney Sweeper” The Songs of Experience Blake appeals to the reader by having a child explain how their parents are praying for him, when they put him in that situation. Reading the text you see a little boy in the street with a dusty face, crying that he’s hungry. He starts to tell his story of how he ended up where he is, and it makes you sad. The boy is sad because he misses his parents. He’s starving and has no food. He’s forced to work as a Chimney Sweeper because his parents need money. Reading this version of The Chimney Sweeper you feel a sense of anger, because the boy has been in this situation for a while, and no longer tries to understand why he is suffering. He just knows that he’s there and has to deal with his situation. People reading this will want to take the child and help him to feel better. They will want to try to help the child get out of such a terrible situation. Also want to help him not be bitter towards his parents and life.