Although Blake wrote "The Chimney Sweep" featured in Songs of Innocence before Felicia Hemans was born, questions relevant to first-generation Romantic authors still pervaded the literary scene when second-generation authors like Hemans finally took the stage “Casabianca,” published in 1826, and “The Chimney Sweep,” published in 1789, both address a central question: What does it mean to be a child? duties that children have towards society as a whole. Although there is an overriding sense of loyalty to duty in both poems, the situational irony of the poems complicates the relationship between children and responsibility. demonstrates this complicated relationship best. The speaker of “The Chimney Sweeper” concludes by saying: “So if everyone does their duty they need not fear any harm” (24). However, we readers have reason to question the validity of the promise of the speaker as the poem seems to suggest that relief from difficulties comes only through death. Through their language, choice of perspective, situational irony and other characteristics, “The Chimney Sweep” and “Casabianca” address the concept of childhood to clarify the complicated relationship between children and duty in society. The structures of the poems appeal to the young people around whom they centered. Each poem has end-rhyming quatrains, creating a nursery rhyme feel. Both poems have a more or less regular rhythm, which increases the feeling of joy created by the rhyme. However, it is a common occurrence that the heavy content contrasts with the structure of the poems. To better understand both poems, it is important to examine why the authors would choose to use a structure that cont...... middle of paper... it is fair to say that both poems are advocates of both duty and childhood for their youthful structure and irony. However, each poem leans more towards one allegiance or another. Hemans shows remorse for Casabianca's early death, but his choice to present the story from the third-person perspective demonstrates that his allegiance is more to fulfilling duty to family and country than fulfilling childhood. In contrast, Blake's choice to give his son's character a first-person voice empowers his protagonist and supports the idea that Blake was more of an advocate of childhood than of duty. Both poems reveal the complicated nature of this issue during the Romantic period, and each poem contrasts with the other to give both a more multidimensional perspective on the consequences and benefits of preserving childhood and duty..