Alliteration In The Chimney Sweeper

“The Chimney Sweeper” (128): This version of the Chimney Sweeper is very upfront and saddening. The version that is presented in the songs of innocence is much more of a calm town and is not as straightforward, while this version is very short and to the point. In this version its very deep as the narrator basically just calls out the parents/church for doing these horrible things to the children. I really love all three stanzas of this poem because they all have a really deep meaning and Blake transitions through them very well. Reading this poem over and over I don’t know what to make of it other than it is an absolute horrible situation. I think it can be tied in to

“Steam rising from ovens and showers like mist across a swampland” has a double meaning, steam rises from ovens and showers, but also in summer, as it rains on a hot highway, steam rises. It is comparing the lives of the people living in these houses to the disorder of a swampland by using the simile “like mist across a swampland”. It may also be suggesting that as cities expand, more land is being stolen from nature. The last line of this stanza “The cricket sound of voices and cutlery” is appealing to the reader’s sense of sound, indicating that the people on the highway can hear the noise of the people in the houses. It is likening the noises of the people to noises made in nature by crickets. In the next stanza Foulcher has written, “Only the children remain outside”, which informs the reader of what it is now like, with all of the adults gone inside. He describes the children as, “bruised with dirt and school”, this gives the indication they are both covered in patches of dirt, and bruised, which are similar colours. Also informs that they are relaxing by play after a hard day at school.

Both “The Chimney Sweepers” poems were written during the industrial revolution. During the industrial revolution families were living in poverty, and times were challenging. Often times for families to survive they would sell their children to master sweeps, or master sweeps would welcome orphans and homeless children into the industry of menial labour. They used children between the ages of five to ten depending on their size. Parents would often sell their children younger, because their small frames were more desirable. Even though “The Chimney Sweeper” (1789) and “The Chimney Sweeper” (1794) were written five years apart they show many similarities and differences.

William Blake's The Chimney Sweeper, written in 1789, tells the story of what happened to many young boys during this time period. Often, boys as young as four and five were sold for the soul purpose of cleaning chimneys because of their small size. These children were exploited and lived a meager existence that was socially acceptable at the time. Blake voices the evils of this acceptance through point of view, symbolism, and his startling irony.

The authors use of alliteration helps to provide specific tones to the words Oliver chooses to use. These tones then go on to provide more accurate connotations that prove their significance in the poem. For example, when Oliver wrote "the dark burred faintly belching bogs" the repetition of the "B" sounds give an accurate description of what an actual swamp may sound like. Words like "belching" and "bogs" are not words commonly associated with things like beauty and ease. This the helps to signify the readers of the difficulties the speaker is experiencing. Another

The idea of innocence loss is prominent in the last three stanzas because this is the part of the story where the child begins to understand the world. In order to make this transition, Thomas uses rhetorical situations such as tone and symbolism to convey the shift. In the fourth stanza, Thomas uses the child’s sleeping as a symbolism for the dark coming, meaning the idea of maturity and aging is hinted. This initiation equates the beginning of the world of maturity, and the end of youth. It also involves the loss of innocence, freedom, and purity. The loss of innocence also infers that the child’s unification with nature is no more, since the setting is referred to the Garden of Eden, the child’s ability to create and fantasize is no longer possible. Despite the clear transition where the child is starting to understand the implications of the world outside of his own, he continues to ignore its heavy presence. In the fifth stanza, the child continues to enjoy the paradise of youth, with the author describing his attitude as he “[runs his] heedless ways.” The author describes the child’s reluctant actions by using a rhetorical situation called register. Register helps the language of this poem to give it authenticity, and meaning to the themes. Thomas displays some of his Welch register in the poem, giving the poem a more genuine feel. In stanza five, Thomas uses a phrase “sky

In William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence, Blake depicts a child who was sold into the work force by his widower father. The child is so young, in fact, he cannot correctly pronounce ‘sweep’, instead crying “weep weep weep…” (3). The child, the perceived speaker of the piece, describes to the audience a fellow chimney sweeper named Tom Dacre. Tom has a

He would wake up the household when the house was warm and the children still spoke indifferently to him even though he warmed up the house and even polished the children’s shoes. The child describes the family as ungrateful for what the father does for them. The theme of Those Winter Sundays is hard to determine. Because there is more than one theme. The poem explores themes like ungratefulness and love. The love theme is not upfront and easy to identify because it is not really portrayed, one can see it in the father as he does these things for his family. Ungratefulness is easier to see because they do not thank the father for anything he does. The tone of this story could be regret because the speaker regrets not showing any appreciative towards his dad. The poem also comes with the elements of speech such as internal rhyme, imagery, and personification. Internal rhyme can be found in the first stanza line 5 when he says “banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.” The rhyme is in the words banked and thanked. Imagery is also found in the first stanza line 2 when he states “put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached.” And finally, personification is found in the second stanza the last line when he says “fearing the chronic angers of that house.” This is personification because they are giving the house the emotion of being angry.

The poem is sectioned into six quatrains, which follow the following pattern: reality, reality, dream, dream, dream, and reality. Through use of this poetic device, the poet presents the impression to the reader that it is inevitable that reality must always be returned to, and that the children will have no escape from their labour. Though the dream may present the impression that it is a welcome escape, it only serves to further emphasise the cruel conditions of the child’s life. ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ falls into the category of a lyrical poem, which presents it to the reader as a song of sorts, almost akin to a nursery rhyme. Traditionally, nursery rhymes are sung to young children, emphasising the narrator’s naive tone. The irony in this must also be noted, as the child ought to be protected by his parents singing to him as he falls asleep; he should not be partaking in the dangerous occupation he has been forced

The narrator speaks of what could symbolise the lower or working class "the Chimney-sweeper", crying out against the system, and the upper class "Church" subduing them. Both the chimney and church are personified to symbolise the people they represent. This dominance is also related in the personification of "Soldier" and "Palace". The soldiers fight the wars that the monarchy decides, their blood on the King and Queen's hands. They sigh as to their shared plight, but their sighs only end in their deaths. This stanza's rhythm is different in that it follows a heptameter meter. Its pace is faster, which might reflect an increase in excitement by the narrator in what might be anger.

     William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” was mainly about the possibilities of both hope and faith. Although the poem’s connotation is that of a very dark and depressed nature, the religious imagery Blake uses indicates that the sweeps will have a brighter future in eternity.

The children are the ‘we’ of the first half of the poem. They “loved it” (5) when the mother kicked out their father and were “glad” (1) at the result of divorce. When their father lost his job they “grinned” (4) and were “tickled” (line 7) with pleasure as they watched their father’s world crash down around him. The sympathy conveyed through the narrative sits with the mother and children during the first half of the poem. As the daughter begins to speak in present terms, and the “you” (1,3) suddenly is now “father” (17), the poem undertakes a dramatic shift. Sympathy begins to surface, from the reader, for the “bums in doorways” (18) who begin to take on a victimized persona with their hands depicted as useless “flippers” (21) attached to their “slug” (19) bodies. It is not to say that the speaker has forgotten the cruel insensitive man that she recalls in the first part of the poem, but the father is now not the only villain and the mother and children are not the only sufferers.

Rhyme is found all throughout the poem and has a huge effect on the reader. Blake used rhyme and detail to create some more wicked thoughts of the Tyger in the readers mind. Each stanza is made up of two couplets. Because these couplets keep a steady going rhyme, we

In both of William Blake’s poems, “The Little Black Boy” and “The Chimney Sweeper,” an innocent-eye point of view portrays the stresses of society in an alternative way to an adult’s understanding. The innocent perspective redirects focus onto what society has become and how lacking each narrator is in the eyes of the predominant white culture. Each naïve speaker also creates an alternate scenario that presents a vision of what their skewed version of life should be like, showing how much their unfortunate youth alters their reality. From the viewpoint of children, Blake’s poems highlight the unhealthy thoughts or conditions in their lives and how unfortunate they were to be the wrong race or class level. These narrators were cheap laborers and were in no control of how society degraded them. Such usage of a child’s perspective offers important insight into the lives of these poor children and raises awareness for the horrible conditions children faced in the London labor force prior to any labor laws. The children of the time had no voice or platform on which to express their opinions on their conditions. Blake targets society’s lack of mindfulness towards the children using the innocent-eye point of view and illusions of what they dream for in life.

"The Chimney Sweeper" is a quintessential Blake poem as it embodies his belief in looking towards the future for hope and comfort. Additionally, the poem is a perfect example of a child's movement from innocence to