Dual perception

• Introduction (I)

  need dual perception - innocence & experience
• The Echoing Green - ‘Such, such were the joys When we all girls and boys,/ In our youth-time were seen/ On the echoing green’


  • even though adults are in experienced world where darkness, corruption, materialism is present, they can still acknowledge pleasure & look back on joys of childhood
• The Echoing Green - 'The sun does descend/ And out sports have an end' 'Like the birds in their nest,/ Are ready for rest' 


  • darkness made bearable because mothers are there - natural pattern
  • acceptance of aging & care
  • sense of community of relationships between adults & children
  • parental figures who love their children & are not restrictive - parents are in charge but children become tired & choose when to return to parents - natural
  • children playing in joy & delight - darkness exists but part of a natural cycle
• The Chimney Sweeper (E) - 'And because I am happy and dance and sing,/ They think they have done me no injury' 


  • unlike Tom Dacre, this child has dual perception - he sees reality of his suffering & maintains joy
  • his outward happiness is misinterpreted by parents & society who use it to absolve themselves of guilt - exposes dangerous illusion where parents deny their actions have made child's life miserable, but child is aware this is wrong & can see through the illusion
  • child knows he is in misery & has terrible life - understands both emotional truth & social injustice of condition
  • despite awareness he chooses to remain joyful - new complex perspective that blends experience w resilience, rather than passive acceptance