Chimney Sweeper By William Blake Analysis

William Blake's poem "The Chimney Sweeper" gives us a look into the unfortunate lives of 18th century London boys whose primary job was to clear chimneys of the soot that accumulated on its interior; boys that were named "climbing boys" or "chimney sweepers." Blake, a professional engraver, wrote this poem (aabb rhyme), in the voice of a young boy, an uneducated chimney sweeper. This speaker is obviously a persona, a fictitious character created by Blake, as it is apparent that he wasn't a child or a chimney sweeper at the time he wrote this poem.

In the two poems "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience," there are multiple similarities and differences regarding their tones. The poet uses diction to demonstrate these several similarities and differences that are being used for their tones. In "Songs of Innocence," he uses dark (sad, depressing, etc.) and light (happy) emotion to describe their tones. Regarding the use of the dark tones for the poems, the poet uses the first line in "Songs of Innocence." The first line goes as following; "When my mother died I was very young” to describe the tone which is very dark and definitely shows you that the child has not had an easy childhood.

In William Blake's Poem “The Chimney Sweeper”, Blake uses allusions, symbols, and metaphor to convey his theme of Innocence, Death, and Youth. With this Blake also goes in depth about the speakers childhood. Finally Blake ends with a dream and how innocence is a major part of the poem. Blake’s foundation of this poem relies on biblical allusions which provide the poem with a theme of innocence and, without them, Blake may have just had an ordinary poem with no deeper meaning in it.

“Then down a green plain a leaping and laughing, they run, And wash in the river and shine in the sun. Then naked and white all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;” When Blake wrote these lines he was of course referring to the act of Baptism. Which is defined in the Bible as being a water ritual, used as a spiritual symbol. Through this process the sweeps would be washed clean of all of their sins and also be cleansed of all of the bad things in their lives including their jobs. “And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father, and never want joy.” This line of the poem indicates that if Tom was a good child and did as he was told on Earth that he would not be forsaken by God as his parents had forsaken him in his former life, but instead he would have everything he could ever possibly desire and be completely content in his afterlife. “And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.” Through these words Blake reveals hope rather than despair because the focus is on immortality instead of life as a sweep. “The little Sweep's dream has the spiritual touch peculiar to Blake's hand.... (Gilchrist).” As stated before Blake is trying to convey

How would we do a poetry explication on “The Chimney Sweeper” (from songs of experience) by William Blake? We would start by analyzing “The Chimney Sweeper” and breaking it down into our own meaning or interpretation. In “The Chimney Sweeper” there are two speakers the child who is found in the snow and the person that finds him.

“The Chimney Sweeper” is a poem written by William Blake (1757 –1827). His main aim is to expose the social defects in his age and the vices which afflict his society and to confront his readers with the dreadful suffering of the working paupers. According to Blake, the chimney-sweeping life is not a life at all; the labourer children have lost their childhood, their freedom, and their innocence. He criticizes the victimisation of children and the injustice of this oppressive labour. He shows how Tom; the chimney sweeper and other children suffer from long hard labour in addition to physical and psychological abuse. Blake insists that these children are living in abject and inhumane conditions of deprivation, misery and humiliation

In stanza one it can be seen with line 1 and 2 couplet “friend” and “end”. The anger with his friend ended. The next couplet is “foe” and “grow” which is exactly what happened with the anger it grew because of his foe. The rhyme also seemed to speed up the poem and gives it a smooth pattern. The narrator wastes no time to explain how his anger has built up and has not shared his feelings with his foe. On line 11 and 12 the end couplets were “shine” and “mine” where he compares his anger to an apple that shines and then he says how his foe now knows about his anger. Rhyme helped show the narrator’s train of thought through the couplets because Blake made sure to put the couplets specifically with corresponding words to the meaning he was trying to

It is clear in the poem that the author is one of the young boys who is living in what seems to be a type of orphanage home ran by the head chimney sweeper. He tells of all the boys living in the home with him, and he mentions one of the boys in specific named Tom. Tom seems to be a particular sad boy that he mentions who has trouble sleeping at nights in the room with the other boys. The story’s narrator mentions how he has been living in these conditions with these boys which are like his family for almost all his life. It is clear that Blake is also writing this poem out of a sense of protest about the conditions that these boys along with many others are forced to live and work in every day across England.

Compare and Contrast William Blake's The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London I am going to compare and contrast three of William Blake poems, where he shows his feelings about the way people treat children: The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London. The Chimney-Sweeper is about a child who sweeps chimneys. William Blake sets this poem in the winter.

William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are collections of poems that utilize the imagery, instruction, and lives of children to make a larger social commentary. The use of child-centered themes in the two books allowed Blake to make a crucial commentary on his political and moral surroundings with deceptively simplistic and readable poetry. Utilizing these themes Blake criticized the church, attacking the hypocritical clergy and pointing out the ironies and cruelties found within the doctrines of organized religion. He wrote about the horrific working conditions of children as a means to magnify the inequality between the poor working class and

The word death is frequently seen as something sad. The kids had to go through a lot, they grew up with that lifestyle because some kids are so young when they start working as a sweeper. The second poem "Songs Of Innocence" starts of with a negative tone and ends with a positive tone. Blake uses diction and imagery in this poem.

William Blake was deeply aware of the great political and social issues during his time focusing his writing on the injustices going on in the world around him. He juxtaposed the state of human existence through his works Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), showing differentiating sides of humanity. The contrast between Songs of

William Blake is one of England’s most famous literary figures. He is remembered and admired for his skill as a painter, engraver, and poet. He was born on Nov. 28, 1757 to a poor Hosier’s family living in or around London. Being of a poor family, Blake received little in the way of comfort or education while growing up. Amazingly, he did not attend school for very long and dropped out shortly after learning to read and write so that he could work in his father’s shop. The life of a hosier however was not the right path for Blake as he exhibited early on a skill for reading and drawing. Blake’s skill for reading can be seen in his understanding for and use of works such as the Bible and Greek classic literature.

     Blake also uses startling irony in this poem. This irony shocks the reader into realization of how terrible life is for these small boys. Some of the verbal irony Blake uses lies in the first stanza. The poetic voice claims that “[his] father sold [him] while yet [his] tongue/ Could scarcely cry ‘ ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’'; (554). These words have a double meaning. They can mean that the speaker was not yet over mourning for his mother, or they can mean that he was so young that he was not yet able to sound out the s sound properly. In this case, he would stand on the corner and, instead of repeating the word sweep in an attempt at getting someone to hire him, he would repeat the word “‘weep!’'; (554). Another, more startling irony is that these young children hoped and lived for death because only in the after life could they become children. Blake emphasizes this with the

The absence of the parents in both poems is noticeable. In Songs of Innocence “And my father sold me while yet my tongue” (line 2) and in Songs of Experience it stats “”Where are thy father and mother? Say! “They are both gone up to the church to pray.” (line 3-4). In Songs of Innocence the child’s mother died when he was young and his father had to sell him. However in Songs of Experience it does not stat much, but the reader knows, and can infer that both parents are