How do I compare and contrast these two very popular poems

Question

Chimney Sweeper by William Blake and The cry of the children By Elizabeth Browning..

Also, to put your mind at ease I am helping one of my neices with a paper. I just want a push in the right direction. I just read both and one thing that is very clear is its about child suffrage...

Answer 1

Well the comparisons are obviously they both deal with child suffrage as you say. They both present it as hard. By way of contrast, Blake sets out God and Heaven as a release where the children can laugh and play. Tom in Blake's poem uses this image to give him encouragement in the harsh conditions as he works. In Browning's poem the children see death as better than life, but not for some meadow to run in, but instead because death will finally give them a release. God is silent and uncaring in Browning's piece. God is like the master that has sent them to the mines. Browning's poem seems more focused on the universality of suffering which narrows in on child labor. Blake's poem doesn't go as broad but focuses on Tom as an example of the issue. Blakes poem also feels less formal in its language.

I hope some of that helps.