Free Essay

Chimney Sweeper

In:

Submitted By eshamaliha
Words 1324
Pages 6
Name: Khandkar Musarrat Maliha Esha
Eng 111.3
Instructor: Hilary Clark
Essay 1

The innocence trapped in black coffin in William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper”

William Blake’s “The chimney sweeper” is narrated by a young boy who is a chimney- sweeper, who tells us about his childhood and his fellow workers. In this poem a contrast of dark and light is shown to give the readers a picture of reality and hope. This essay explores the different dimensions, which are significant in this poem. I will argue that the poet is making a contrast between the innocence and the corruption in today’s world by giving examples and by analyzing the poem thoroughly.

In the first stanza the narrator shares his childhood story with the readers. He mentions that his mother died when he was very young and his father sold him even before he knew how to speak. “And my father sold me while yet my tongue, /could scarcely cry” (2-3), in this line the poetic device known as metonymy is used where the poet refers to the speakers voice but says tongue. By this line we understand that his father sold him even before he could cry or understand that he is being sold away. He says that since his father sold him he sweeps chimneys and sleeps in soot. It can be assumed that chimney- sweepers use the same cloth or blanket to sleep, which is used in the daytime to collet soot –“in soot I sleep.”

Most of the chimney- sweepers who cleaned the chimney were young children as they were little and it is easy for them to crawl up and do cleaning work. Just like the narrator there was another young chimney- sweeper whose name was Tom Dacre. The story is now shifted to Tom who is a friend of the narrator. When Tom Dacre’s head was shaved he cried and the narrator comforted him. “That curl’d like a lamb’s back” (5) –suggests that the kid’s hair was curly like lamb’s wool.
William Blake uses this simile to compare Tom’s hair with lamb’s wool to show that these young children are as innocent as lambs that are harmless innocent animals. People shave the back of the lambs to collect the wool and use it for business and other purposes for their own profit. In the same way the young children are being used as slaves and are forced to work hard by the business owners who run the chimney -cleaning business for their own benefit. The white color of the wool is also a symbol of purity and innocence, which is found in other parts of the poem as well.
The narrator comforts Tom by telling him not to worry about his hair and also tells him that he will be glad that his hair is shaved because now Tom’s hair will not get dirty by the nasty soot. “ You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.” (8) – Brings a question in the reader’s mind that how can a child’s hair be white. William Blake is trying to make a contrast between the innocence of a child by portraying it as white and the corruption in the society by showing it as black as soot. As the narrator says to Tom now that he does not have hair there is no chance of the soot spoiling his white hair. In the same way the soot is thought to be the corruption in the society, which can mess up something white meaning something pure and innocent like the innocence of these young children in the chimney.
Now we move on to the dream which Tom saw that very night. The narrator describes that Tom saw thousands of sweepers like him, a few of their names were mentioned which were Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack. By using these common, standard names the narrator wants to emphasize on the fact that there are many of these poor young children all over the world not only in the chimneys but in other business as well.
He saw that all the sweepers were locked up in black coffins. We can assume that these black coffins have a relation with soot since soot is the only black thing mentioned earlier in this poem. We have seen earlier in this poem that the narrator mentions about sleeping in the soot just in the same way dead bodies also sleep in black coffin. This gives more evidence to the conclusion that the environment in the chimney is more like in the black coffins. Just like coffins are closed and suffocating, in the same way the imagery of coffin is used to describe the suffocating environment these children live in.
Tom continues with the dream where he sees an Angel with a bright key that opens the coffins and sets all the sweepers free. The imagery here is uplifting and the bright key depicts a ray of hope in contrast with the suffocating, creepy black coffins. All the imageries here like coffin and angel gives us a hint about death. In Tom’s dream the newly freed children run through green fields and wash themselves in the river, coming out clean and white in the bright sun. The beautiful scenario of the green plain, river and sun brings in a change in the atmosphere. We can relate it to the beauty of the nature, which can mean light after the darkness of the black coffin. Sleep and dream both symbolizes night-time when everything is dark but the beauty of the nature and most importantly the sun gives a feeling of hope just like daylight after the dark-night as dark as soot.
Line 8 of this poem contains a contrast of white and black or angelic which is white hair and sin, which is soot. “ Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,”- here naked and white also suggests purity and innocence whereas baggage denotes sin and cares of the world. Naked also shows freedom, whereas earlier we see that these children are in a suffocating situation and in a boxed area now they are so free that they do not even have any clothes on them and they can feel the wind upon them. The angel tells Tom that God will be his father and will never be deprived of joy if he is a good boy.
The last stanza shows the effects that his dream had upon him. He no longer worried about his job as a chimney- sweeper and looked forward to hard work, which is a necessary part of life, which is apparently the only part he will leave behind after his death. Despite the cold morning Tom was happy and warm. The reason behind his happiness was his belief that no harm will come to you if you fulfill your duties and everything will be taken care of by God.
The rhyme scheme of this poem is “aabb” and contains near rhyme in stanzas 4 and 5.
Most lines contain five metrical feet with varying stress patterns.
From the close analysis of this poem I would like to conclude that William Blake made a contrast between innocence of the young and poor in the society, which is being corrupted by the negative things in the society. The various symbols of innocence like the color white and the animal lamb are used in this poem and on the other hand soot, black coffin is used to show the darkness in the society. The main theme of this poem according to my analysis is that the purity and innocence in the poor young people is trapped in a society, which is corrupted and is polluting the good things in human being.

WORKS CITED:
Blake,William. “The Chimney Sweeper”. The Harbrace Anthology of Poetry. Ed. Jon C.Stott, Raymond E. Jones, and Rick Bowers. 4th ed. Toronto: Nelson, 2006. 98-99.Print

Similar Documents

Free Essay

“the Chimney Sweeper”

...“The Chimney Sweeper” By William Blake Poetry Essay Debreshia Wright English 102 Professor Dr. Rockford Sansom Due 9/28/14 “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, opens a door to show the reader how poor and lower class life was like in the 19th century. In the poem by Mr. William Blake “The Chimney Sweeper” the reader learns about the harsh child labor during the 19th century, the fate of a young child and this child belief in God. These young children had a hard life to lead but through this poem you see how these children were able to escape in there thought of heaven. During the 19th century child labor was a normal way of life. It was so much more important to bring home wages than to get educated. Most families were so poor they had to send the children out at very young ages to help gain wages. Mr. Blake expresses this when he says “...my father sold me...” the child narrator was sold in to what seems to be child slavery. In the poem as the child said “yet my tongue could scarcely cry weep, weep…” it refers to the child not being able to speak clearly to say sweep. This child fate appears to have been sealed when his mother died; it also appears the child would make his father appear cruel and unloving. Because the child says “my father sold me...” it does not state my father sent me to work. This poem has a sense of sadness in the beginning, until the child narrator being to talk to Tom. Tom was having his hair shaved off and I am...

Words: 783 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Chimney Sweeper

...Kelsey Rice Mr. Ortolani ELA 12 2 February 2016 The Chimney Sweeper In the late 18th century, an English poet by the name of William Blake wrote two poems about the young sweeps he saw suffering in the beautiful streets of London. He placed one poem in the Songs of Innocence and the other in the Songs of Experience. Innocence and Experience were printed in two phases. In 1789, Blake published of The Songs of Innocence and in 1794, he decided to link them together. Blake, therefore, confirmed his interest in duality at the very beginning in the 1794 edition. When he acquired the fate of chimney sweeps as the topic for a poem in both Innocence and Experience, he gave us at least two ways of seeing and understanding the same social predicament. By comparing Blake’s two ‘Chimney Sweeper’ poems, we can get some logic of his state of mind around innocence and experience as ‘contrary states’. The sweep in Innocence doesn’t recognize the life in which he finds himself. “And my father sold me while yet my tongue could scarcely cry ‘Weep! ‘Weep!’ ‘Weep!” This is one of the many poetic strategies that Blake uses. The repetitive word ‘weep’ is used to show that the child’s language is not sufficient to make sense of his sorrowfulness. He does not know that he has been taught a fabricated language, which makes him believe that sorrow must be a fact of everyday life. Blake proposes that as there is a slight difference in the way the words sound to our ears, so there is little difference...

Words: 630 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Chimney Sweeper

...in the poem "the chimney sweeper", blake offers a graphic portrayal of a particular cultural aspects of england in the 1700s. He seeks to show thier loss of innocence in thier childhood by showing chimney sweeper takes away children's freedom and joy. in 1700s, william blake composed a poem about the life of chimney sweeper in "the chimney sweeper". the poem is narrated by a chimney sweeper. he tells a little bit about himself before giving us the lowdoen on another chimney sweeper, tom dacre. after introducing us to tom, he relates a very strange dream that tom had one night, it invovled chimney sweepers in coffins, angels flying, and few othe bizzare things. the poem concludes with tom and the speaker wking up and going to work, sweepin' like they do. in this poem of innocecse i'll prove against child labor; children whi works at thier early ages. in first stanza the narrator tells about a child who is sold by his father after his mother's death. as in first line it says, "when my mother died i was very yoiung". i clarifies, while he was very young his faher sold him to a man who runs chimney sweeper buisness. he started working as a chimey sweeper at his very young age and became a victim of abuse and child labor. in actuality, he was forced to work and clean chimneys without any clothes and shleter. instead of taking care of him his fatgher sold him for money. narrator changes the character in second stanza bu saying "there is a tom dacre who..." from this we can know...

Words: 528 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Chimney Sweeper

...THESIS STATEMENT & OUTLINE 1) THESIS - The injustices that juvenile chimney sweepers had to endure were selfish, inhumane and riddled with neglect. a) Introduction b) Slavery parallels i) Worked long hours ii) Malnourished iii) Health hazards a) Biblical allusion iv) Sacrificed for selfishness v) Cleansed vi) Reborn vii) Angelic savior b) Theme viii) Innocence ix) Naïve c) Conclusion William Blake’s statement “I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans” appears prophetic in his poem “The Chimney Sweeper”. This becomes apparent in the introduction when the narrator states after his mother’s died he was “sold” into slavery by his father, before he was old enough to verbalize the work he was made to do. The adults in the story failed to protect the innocence of the main characters that had very little choice in the way they lived during this time. Although, there were child labor laws set in place to look after the young workers, for selfish reasons, they were seldom enforced. Robert Blake’s poem “The Chimney Sweeper” is set in London, England during a time when it was common for children to work long hours, for minimal pay and in hazardous conditions. The poem is divided into two sections; it begins in the first stanza with the narrator being the main focus and then later shift to the character Tom Dacre. Who appears...

Words: 980 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Chimney Sweeper

...POETRY ESSAY The Chimney Sweeper Thesis Sometimes people are forced to grow and live in the harshest of conditions, it can be hard to see God in those dark and bleak times but those who can, are truly blessed and know that their sufferings will only be temporary. Outline I. Introduction- Bringing to light an appalling state of affairs regarding children who have no loved ones The Chimney sweeper Overview: Sold into child slavery at an early age Forced to grow up quickly Examples of imagery in the poem Hard working conditions Dreams of a better time and place The author uses imagery to describe how the children work and live and their surroundings Why does Blake write this poem is it meant to be depressing or to teach us to be more thankful of the blessings we have Conclusion It’s important for us to remember when we are depressed and feeling blue that things could be much worse and we should be thankful for what we have been given The Chimney Sweeper William Blake Sometimes people are forced to grow and live in the harshest of conditions, it can be hard to see God in those dark and bleak times but those who can, are truly blessed and know that their sufferings will only be temporary. In the poem “The Chimney sweeper” the reader is informed about brutal circumstances children around the world were forced to work and...

Words: 1048 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Chimney Sweeper

...The Chimney Sweeper Thesis Blake uses many literary devices to portray the hopeless life of the young chimney sweeps. I. Irony II. Imagery III. Symbolism William Blake masterfully uses many literary devices to portray the hopeless life of a young chimney sweep in his poem “The Chimney Sweeper”. The poem has a young, nameless first person narrator which gives the poem a sense of youthful innocence and anonymity that is in direct contradiction to the horrible conditions they suffer. Most of the poem has dark tones that is punctuated by a happy dream of freedom and joy with his true father his creator. The poem ends with a bleak and almost sinister twist of irony that leaves the reader feeling sorrow and shame for the chimney sweepers. Irony is one of the most powerful literary devices employed by Blake. It is seen running through the poem starting with the first lines. The boy’s mother died and his father sold him before he could “cry ‘weep ’weep ’weep. We don’t know why the boy was sold but we could assume that the father wanted to give the boy more opportunity than he could afford to give. This is extremely ironic because the boy is sold into servitude in deplorable, deathly conditions. More irony is evident in the last lines of the poem where the narrator speaks of the sweeper doing their duty to avoid harm. Children should only have the duty of being happy children, not pleasing their masters and working terrible jobs like slaves. Tom’s dream can also be ironic...

Words: 812 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

The Chimney Sweeper

...The Chimney Sweeper William Blake William Blake is one of the most famous poets in Romanticism era. This period witnessed the Science and Technology Innovation, leading to European Revolution in Europe. William Blake observed deeply and thoroughly changes in human life and he narrated these changes in his poems which typically painted a gloomy, miserable life of the children in the 19th century. However, embedded in this dark color are always the innocence and the optimism of the children hoping for a brighter future. One of his works is The Chimney Sweeper from “Songs of Innocence” which although described the life experience in the 19th century but it is still valid to the present time when millions of children in the third countries are exploited in toxic, life-threatened jobs paid under minimum standard wages. The Chimney Sweeper tells a story of a boy who first introduces some of his background and then tells about his friend named Tom with his dream of working as a chimney sweeper, darkening from head to toe, sleeping in the dark coffin, meeting the angel, wakening and continuing doing his tasks innocently. The main character was sold by his father when he was too young when he even knew how to speak. “Could scarcely cry “ ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!”. I couldn’t imagine why on earth exists such a parent who could behave such cruelly. Just because his mother died young and his father was too poor. The Revolution led to thousand of factories established and provided surplus opportunities...

Words: 684 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Chimney Sweeper Essay

...Poetry Essay, Thesis, and Outline of William Blake “The Chimney Sweeper” COURSE # and TITLE___ENGL 102 Literature and Composition_____ SEMESTER OF ENROLLMENT___Summer 2011____________ NAME__Tammy Boylan______________ID #__L23926585_ WRITING STYLE USED_____APA_____________________ In William Blakes, “The Chimney Sweeper”, this poem is told by a chimney sweep who tells of a younger sweep that is sold into slavery by his father, after his mother dies. The main theme of the poem is that of the loss of innocence of these children, who are depicted in the poem under harsh and abusive treatment in the 1800’s. With their innocence stolen by their parents and their owners these children were forced into confined areas filled with comb webs, and dirty sooty conditions, where their lives were sacrificed to their life of cleaning these chimneys, of which they died of young ages. The narrator tells of the young Tom Dacre’s dream of the only way out of this life of misery. 1. Introduction- William Blake writes of his concern for these children’s well being 2. Body Section – The Poem Overview: 1. The boy’s mother dies at young age (Stanza 1) 2. Sold - Loss of Innocence (Stanza 2) 3. Dream (Stanza 3) 4. Angel (Stanza 4) 5. Hope of a Father (Stanza 5) 6. Their duty (Stanza 6) ...

Words: 1592 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

The Chimney Sweeper

...Analysis “The Chimney Sweeper” comprises six quatrains, each following the AABB rhyme scheme, with two rhyming couplets per quatrain. The first stanza introduces the speaker, a young boy who has been forced by circumstances into the hazardous occupation of chimney sweeper. The second stanza introduces Tom Dacre, a fellow chimney sweep who acts as a foil to the speaker. Tom is upset about his lot in life, so the speaker comforts him until he falls asleep. The next three stanzas recount Tom Dacre's somewhat apocalyptic dream of the chimney sweepers’ “heaven.” However, the final stanza finds Tom waking up the following morning, with him and the speaker still trapped in their dangerous line of work. There is a hint of criticism here in Tom Dacre's dream and in the boys' subsequent actions, however. Blake decries the use of promised future happiness as a way of subduing the oppressed. The boys carry on with their terrible, probably fatal work because of their hope in a future where their circumstances will be set right. This same promise was often used by those in power to maintain the status quo so that workers and the weak would not unite to stand against the inhuman conditions forced upon them. As becomes more clear in Blake's Songs of Experience, the poet had little patience with palliative measures that did nothing to alter the present suffering of impoverished families. What on the surface appears to be a condescending moral to lazy boys is in fact a sharp criticism of a culture...

Words: 394 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Chimney Sweeper William Blake

...living the lives his works vicariously told, but once his time period ended, a historical book was left behind. The theme of a struggle is most prominently showcased in Blake’s poetry. Whether it be Blake depicting women and their power struggle throughout the 18th or 19th century, or depicting the lives of the children put into the labor force at a very early age. These children were put in a tunnel (almost literally when they worked in the chimneys), where there was no light at the end, this path had one and only one destination: death. The symbolism in Blake’s poetry accurately reflects the cruel conditions of child labor and the environment of hostility in which these children lived and breathed every day, what the church meant in society in the 18th century, and the family dynamics. Clearly marking its importance by publishing multiple items on the subject, William Blake composed two poems about children working in the chimney sweeps both titled “The Chimney Sweeper”. The transition of emotions from the first “The Chimney Sweeper” to the second demonstrates an evolution from purity to exposure (Mayhew 1), which correlates directly to the title of the book in which these poems were published, “ Songs of Innocence and Experience.” Blake’s poetry appears to be detailed to a point where one begins to feel the emotions these people did, if only we could imagine. The vivid images he paints strike as surprising upon learning his background. William Blake had a limited...

Words: 2293 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Essay on the Chimney Sweeper

...English 102-B12 LUO Spring 2014 Joseph P Garland Jr L23810423 MLA A literary analysis of “The Chimney Sweeper.” Social Injustice was rampant among chimney sweeps in 18th and 19th Century England... In the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” from “Songs of Innocence” This paper will evaluate and show the story and writing style dealing with social injustice. 1. Introduction a. The Chimney Sweeper 2. The Location and Era a. 18th and 19th Century England 3. Point of View a. Tom Dacre 4. Writing Style A. Lack of Rhyme 5. Conclusion William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” from “Songs of Innocence” provides a view of extreme social injustice among children being used as chimney sweeps in 18th and 19th Century England. William Blake also in 1794 wrote “The Chimney Sweeper” in “Songs of Experience.” For this essay, the analysis will be of “The Chimney Sweeper” from “Songs of Innocence” written in 1789. This poem shows social injustice from the character’s eyes dealing with oppression, exploitations and death. The life that William Blake creates in “The Chimney Sweeper” is one of social and economic injustice, the use of child labor which leads to a society of that time being un-sympathetic to the needs of its children. Blake draws attention from the first stanza of the poem to a child that has already experienced the death of his mother and being sold into indentured servitude by the father before the child could even process the death and what...

Words: 952 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Analysis of “the Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake

...Literary Analysis Paper COURSE #: English 102-CO1 COURSE TITLE: Comp & Lit Writing Style Manual Used: MLA Thesis Statement: “The Chimney Sweeper” written by William Blake can easily be confused as to whether it is a poem about how hard work and faith can bring you to the Lord or how being naïve can be extremely foolish. Outline I. Introduction a. Discuss what the poem is about b. Thesis statement II. Describe the literal scene and situation III. Discuss the theme of the poem a. Discuss the theme/mood of the poem. b. Discuss the words used to communicate the theme IV. Discuss how rhyme is utilized in the poem and changes the theme/mood V. Conclusion a. Summary b. Restate thesis English 102 25 March 2012 Analysis of “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake “The Chimney Sweeper”, by William Blake begins with a child telling the story of his own life of being sold into slavery by his father. He explains how he was sold very young after his mother’s death before he could barely even cry. As the title states, the boy was sold to be a chimney sweeper. The child then goes into telling the story of another little boy that is there with him named Tom. He explains to the readers how he had witnessed Tom getting a haircut and how Tom cried for the loss of his white hair. The child, narrator...

Words: 1056 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

William Blake: the Chimney Sweeper

...William Blake: The Chimney Sweeper William Blake has composed two The Chimney Sweeper, both of which reveal the miserable life of the little chimney sweepers in Britain during the Industrial Revolution. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. --A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens In the comparison between the virtue and the vice of the epoch of Industrial Revolution, Dickens mainly focuses on its dark side. Like Dickens, in the two poems of The Chimney Sweeper, Blake criticizes the cause of unfair and tragic treatment towards the poor children—their greedy parents, the cruel capitalists, the irresponsible government and the unmindful Church. In The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence), the symbols of death exist everywhere, from the death of the mother to the name of the little boy—Dacre (dark), to the coffin. All signify the life is desperate. How to rescue them? In Tom Dacre’s dream, the angel shows him that being a good boy of the God will bring him all the joy. When the reality is too dark to find the entrance of the misery, all we...

Words: 749 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Little Black Boy and the Chimney Sweeper

... joy in the noonday. ‘‘And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love And these black bodies and this sunburnt face Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove. ‘‘For when our souls have learn’d the heat to bear, The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice, Saying, ’Come out from the grove, my love and care And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice’,’’ Thus did my mother say, and kissed me; And thus I say to little English boy. When I from black and he from white cloud free, And round the tent of God like lambs we joy I’ll shade him from the heat till he can bear To lean in joy upon our Father’s knee; And then I’ll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him, and he will then love me. THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER A little black thing in the snow, Crying ‘‘weep! weep!’’ in notes of woe! ‘‘Where are thy father and mother? Say!’’— ‘‘They are both gone up to the church to pray. ‘‘Because I was happy upon the heath, And smiled among the winter’s snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. ‘‘And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his priest and king, Who make up a heaven of our misery.’’...

Words: 352 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

English 2850

...The speaker of this poem is a small boy who was sold into the chimney-sweeping business when his mother died. He recounts the story of a fellow chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, who cried when his hair was shaved to prevent vermin and soot from infesting it. The speaker comforts Tom, who falls asleep and has a dream or vision of several chimney sweepers all locked in black coffins. An angel arrives with a special key that opens the locks on the coffins and sets the children free. The newly freed children run through a green field and wash themselves in a river, coming out clean and white in the bright sun. The angel tells Tom that if he is a good boy, he will have this paradise for his own. When Tom awakens, he and the speaker gather their tools and head out to work, somewhat comforted that their lives will one day improve. Analysis “The Chimney Sweeper” comprises six quatrains, each following the AABB rhyme scheme, with two rhyming couplets per quatrain. The first stanza introduces the speaker, a young boy who has been forced by circumstances into the hazardous occupation of chimney sweeper. The second stanza introduces Tom Dacre, a fellow chimney sweep who acts as a foil to the speaker. Tom is upset about his lot in life, so the speaker comforts him until he falls asleep. The next three stanzas recount Tom Dacre's somewhat apocalyptic dream of the chimney sweepers’ “heaven.” However, the final stanza finds Tom waking up the following morning, with him and the speaker still trapped...

Words: 1156 - Pages: 5