William Blake's Approach

1. I do agree that the authors that Blake’s poetry had the power enact social change by appealing to imagination. I think it is much to appeal to a larger audience by using an approach that would strike the imagination rather than logic, because a younger audience might not have the maturity to realistically apply the message of the poem to today’s would and changes that need to happen, but no one is too young or too old to imagine. The words and phrases that Blake uses such as “’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!” in the song of Innocence and “And because I am happy, and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery.” from the songs of Experience appeal to the emotions of those who might be reading the poems which might cause the readers to realize that a change must be made, especially if the readers imagine and think of themselves as being in the same position as the child. When appealing to emotion and imagination in a way that Blake did, it would be hard not to consider social change.

2. The Parliament transcript was included as a primary source document because it backed up the points and themes that William Blake was trying to portray. This helps emphasize the severity of child labor and evoke in the mind of citizens that this is a serious issue and that something must be done. When I read Blake’s work, i realized that it is a very serious matter and that we as people have to look at these situations through different perspectives.. This helped me understand why Romantic poets took different approaches to writing in order to get their point across because it not only stuck out to my sense of logic, but also to my emotions.