Growing up has taught us the aspects of our lives. In other words, reality. For some of us it has taught us that we should face reality instead of escaping it. For example, “The Chimney Sweeper,” by William Blake, “When I have Fears that I May Cease,” by John Keats and “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns, all analyze on how the poems face reality and how they dealt with it.
Each speaker points out how they face the reality of their lives. Some had to go through difficult times but indeed they manage to face reality. Sometimes we can’t control what happens with us and with acceptance comes to facing the reality that one has waiting for them. Facing reality can come through childhood hardships, fear of death and relationship between people and humans.
Facing reality can come in many ways including through hardships in our lives. Everyone goes through rough and painful times in their lives. For some it’s more than others. Not everyone gets the perfect life of living with a family or having freedom. Such as in “The Chimney Sweeper” written by William Blake, who talks about a young boy who is a chimney sweeper and lives doing dangerous work as he cleans for other people’s chimneys. We learn that the speaker’s mother is dead and he was sold by his own father. Then came along a boy named Tom Dacre, who cried because his curly hair was being shaved off.
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But the boy helps him to calm down and not to worry. Later that night, the boy has a dream “ That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack, Were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black”(11-12). This quote contains the overall message of the poem, in which Tom sees his vision. Tom clearly sees the reality of what his life will look like. He comes to accept that his life will not be as long as he desires but instead short and horrible. Facing reality can bring you to accept your time of existence too.
When facing reality it can show you how one’s fear can lead to acceptance towards death. Most of the time we are afraid to face the reality that our life is ending because we want to continue living but it just can’t happen. The speaker struggles to accept dying before he can achieve his hopes in life. He fears the reality that he is alone in the world and has no one. They fear that they would lose the relationship with a beloved one. The idea of death has made the speaker isolated from the world. But in the end the speaker has come into realization that he can’t control death and he must accept it.
“Then on the shore of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink” (12-14). The speaker clearly doesn’t care about the fame or love. He has come to realize that even when he tries to find comfort and love from others, death will still come to every person on its own. In the end the speaker overcomes their fear of losing love and fame. Love doesn’t necessarily need to come from a person but also animals.
Just as humans can have a special relationship with other people so can animals. Sometimes we interpret some animals to be dangerous but we never know until we actually get to understand them more. Every creature and human is part of the natural world and does not have control over what goes on in our lives. That’s why we should be more open to helping creatures in need because you never know they could be thinking the same about humans.
In “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns, he expresses his feelings towards a mouse because he has accidently destroyed its nest. He tells the frightened mouse that he is very sorry about the nest. He knows that the mouse steals food from his store but understands that it needs food to survive.
Since winter is coming, the mouse won’t be having enough grass to use to build its nest back. Now the poor mouse had no shelter to live in. This gives the speaker to think about humankind “In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o’ Mice an Men Gang aft agley An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain For promis’d joy!” (38-42).
The speaker starts visualizing how humans and animals can suffer from homelessness. This can cause us to feel pity towards all living creatures and want to help. All living things should be treated the same with love and respect. It shouldn’t matter if it’s a person or animal. Most of the time, humans tend to take power over animals and it’s not right. It’s always good to help out those in need even if it includes a little creature like a mouse.
Facing reality points out the different ways it has affected one of us differently. Each of the poems explain how each of the speakers in the poem really felt towards facing reality. In the poem “ The Chimney Sweeper” the young boy realizes that his life won’t be long but instead short. Most of the young sweepers don’t have a family and have been sold off. This leads them hopeless but still continue to survive as they can. We have to be more aware of our lives, sometimes it will be long and other times shorter than we imagine.
In the poem “ When I have fears that I may Cease” the speaker talks about fearing death. Indeed, death will come to all of us no matter what. We have to accept and appreciate the life we have. And in the poem “ To a Mouse” burns states how he feels bad for destroying the nest of the mouse which makes him realize that just as humans, animals go through the same as humans. We should always have compassion towards humans as well as animals.
Reality is something that everyone has to face and deal with at some point in our lives. Most of the time, people decide to escape reality rather than facing it but that isn’t always the right way to go. We should start to accept ourselves, our life and reality. This can make life much more easier instead of difficult.
References
- The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake
- When I have Fears that I May Cease by John Keats
- To a Mouse by Robert Burns
- Analysis of “The Chimney Sweeper”
- Popular poems by John Keats
- Comparison between William Blake and John Keats
- Biography of William Blake on Poets.org
- Biography of John Keats on Keats-Shelley House website
- Poems by Robert Burns on Poetry Foundation
