[a], That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack, [b], Were all of them locked up in coffins of black; [b], And by came an Angel who had a bright key, [a], And he opened the coffins & set them all free;[a], Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run, [b], And wash in a river and shine in the Sun. The boy says “When my mother dies I was very young, and my father sold me while yet my tongue.” (lines 1-2 p. 85) In songs of experience, Blake writes “A little black thing among the snow Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!” (lines 1-2 p90), Both poems are also expressed romantically in a few ways. As the name suggests, the poem is about the little chimney sweepers who live a black life, cleaning the soot of the chimneys. An analysis of "The Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Innocence(This analysis is for Songs of Innocence. A wall was pulled down in a desperate attempt to rescue him, but he … Yet, even symbols associated with happiness intensify the harsh facts of existence.

Popularity of “The Chimney Sweeper”: This poem was written by William Blake, a popular English poet. Say? His present life revolves around working, calling through the streets for more work, and at the end of the day sleeping on soot, a realistic detail since the boys did indeed make their beds on bags of soot they had swept from the chimneys. In William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Innocence there is an immense contrast between the death, weeping, exploitation, and oppression that Tom Dacre endures and the childlike innocence that enables him to be naive about his grave situation and the widespread injustice in society. In September of 1875, a bill was pushed through which put a stop to the practice of using children as chimney sweeps. They were usually barely fed and slept in basements, covering themselves with the filthy soot sacks they worked with. It led to urbanisation and thus slums, child labour, poverty, depression etc were quite common. In contrast, the sun, river, and plain express the joys that should be natural to childhood, which is also a symbol of the way nature is appreciated in the romantic age. After the speaker tries to reassure Tom, Tom dreams of an angel who sets the chimney … As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight! The boys rarely bathed and were frequently sickly. Where are thy father and mother?

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They represent the chimneys that he sweeps and the actual death to which he will soon come. Thus, it indicates that most of the commoners suffered the same fate, The asyndetic style of the enumeration adds emphasis to the number of victims, ‘coffins’ indicate the inescapable fate of the young sweepers, Angle is a representative of the religion (Christianity), Note the contrast of previously mentioned ‘black’ and the current brightness, Ironically indicates that, to possess the ‘Key’ the Angle should be the owner of the coffins, The scenario alludes to history where children were used by the church as child labourers, Indicates that the religion is the savior, The children are saved by the angel only in the state of dreaming in an ironical manner, The idea of freedom and bondage are contrasted through the poem, Note the colourlessness of the real world and the colourfulness of the dream world which creates a visual juxtaposition, The writer uses another asyndetic style of enumeration in order to indicate the basic needs of a child, Such needs of a child are only achieved in his dream world, Note how the ‘sun’ is only visible in the dream world, The ‘sun’ adds warmth to the dream world which juxtaposes with the ‘cold’ of the real world, Note the juxtaposition between ‘black’ which exists in the real world and ‘white’ in the dream world, ‘Bags’ is a metaphor for the burdens and hardships which are only left behind in the dream world, Clouds and wind are indications of freedom, Note how the bondage (coffins) in the previous stanza contrasts with freedom, Manipulative nature of the religion is indicated as what is said by the angel is a condition (note the conditional clause) which is similar to trading, Note how the sound of ‘want’(meaning- lack) acts as a, Indicates how the religion wants people to conform to the corruption, The image of God is used to manipulate the innocence in to corruption by the representative, Angel, The syntax of the representative of the religion is complex even though he speaks to a very small child, and it contrasts with the simple diction and the syntax of the narrator, The complex and sophisticated syntax emphasizes the complexity of the religion which misleads the innocent who fails to understand the figurative meaning due to their unsophisticated status, Coming back to the real world brings back the darkness to the poem, Note how the narration of the poem changes from ‘I’ to ‘WE’, The bags left behind in the dream world are picked up, Note the anaphora of ‘and’ which emphasizes the confusion of the victims, Note the repetition of ‘our’ which indicates the isolation of the sweepers, The warmth of the SUN in the dream world and the COLD in the real world are contrasted, Note the difference between the warmth of the dream world and the warmth of the real world which is rather emotional and artificial, The sadness in the second stanza is contrasted with the happiness, Ironically indicates how the religion masks the inescapable death and builds up an unachievable expectation on the innocent, The entire stanza contains caesurae highlighting the emotional confusion and trauma of the children. ‘weep! It was published in two parts.

William Blake wrote two poems called “The Chimney Sweeper.” The first poem had to do with innocence. In “The Chimney Sweeper”, songs of experience, Blake talks about some of the things a little black boy goes through. Analysis This poem is an indictment of those institutions, namely family, the church, and the government, for their hypocrisy and failure to protect their most vulnerable citizens, despite claims that they act for the betterment of society. For the Songs of Experience analysis, follow the link!) So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. 16th May 2017 Work-related health problems included: deformed ankles, twisted kneecaps, twisted spines, inflammatory eye syndrome, and respiratory illnesses. Never mind it, for when your head’s bare, you know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair” (lines 6-7 p. 85). Several works of literature helped to bring a spotlight to their terrible plight, including “The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby,” written by Reverend Charles Kingsley and published in full in 1863. [b], Then naked & white, all their bags left behind, [a], They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind. William Blake was a famous writer of the Romantic Age which took place in 1832. [b], There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head [a], That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved, so I said, [a], “Hush, Tom! Yet, restored by his dream, Tom is happy, and the poem ends with the pious moral, akin to the angel’s speech, “So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.” (Mellown p. 2) So he goes through the rest of his life knowing that heaven was in his future as long as he was good. Earlier, in the late 1700s, William Blake wrote poetic depictions of the lives of climbing boys which were published in two books of poetry, Join ELSL classes to learn every poem/novel/drama/short story like this.

The second stanza introduces Tom Dacre, a fellow chimney sweep who acts as a foil to the speaker. by William Blake reveals a plead for social justice.In William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" in the Songs of Innocence there is an immense contrast between the death, weeping, exploitation, and oppression that Tom Dacre endures … The chimney sweeps were not given any type of respiratory equipment or protective clothing. The speaker of the poem is unnamed, however, he is one of the young chimney sweepers. The last quatrain opens with a brutal contrast. Tom cries as he gets his hair cut off, but the speaker makes him feel better by saying “Hush, Tom! The sweep meets a new recruit to the chimney sweeping gang named Tom Dacre, who arrives terrified. They have a few things in common, but also have a plethora of items that are different. The poem is built around a series of powerful, closely related contrasts. never mind it, for when your head’s bare, [b], You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.” [b], And so he was quiet, & that very night, [a], As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight! (Mellown p.1), In the first stanza, he talks about his way of life. ‘weep!”. The first, introduced in the second line, is that of bondage and freedom, for the child is literally sold into a state of both servitude and imprisonment within the chimneys. “Hush, Tom! The bright key recalls imprisonment; the harmony of the leaping boys emphasizes their isolation in the chimneys; and the lamb, whose curling fleece Tom’s hair resembles, is often, as is the sweeper, a helpless victim. Analysis “The Chimney Sweeper” comprises six quatrains, each following the AABB rhyme scheme, with two rhyming couplets per quatrain. Tom takes the advice and goes to sleep happily. You can view samples of our professional work here. English Literature Registered Data Controller No: Z1821391. Suddenly, they find themselves in a pastoral landscape where, freed from their burdens, they bathe in a river and then rise up to the clouds. The poem is told from the perspective of a young chimney sweep, a boy who has been sold into labor by his father. He was sold as an apprentice by his father.

"The Chimney Sweeper" is a poem by William Blake, published in his 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. In the late 1600s in England in response to the Great Fire of London, which gutted the city, building codes changed, requiring chimneys to be much narrower than previously. And wash in a river and shine in the Sun. In the next stanza Blake describes how his parents are at church praying for him because he is so happy on the outside but not showing his true pain. Due to the new design, keeping the chimneys free of obstruction became more of a challenge and a priority. [b], And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark [a], And got with our bags & our brushes to work. They clambered up chimneys with brushing and scraping tools that knocked the creosote and soot from the chimney lining. ‘The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing among the snow’ by William Blake was included, along with one other poem that uses the same title, (‘The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young’) in Songs of Innocence and Experience.