preview

The Conflict Between Social Morality Towards Child Labor And The Realization That The Young

Decent Essays

This poem addresses the conflict between social morality towards child labor and the realization that the elite have influenced societies ways. As the original speaker in the poem sees something black in the snow and approaches the object, it turns out to be a young chimneysweeper crying all alone. Once the speaker has approached the cries, the poem then transitions to a different speaker who is the young chimneysweeper expressing their perception towards their situation, which is being involved in child labor and how the sweepers parents along with a prominent source such as “God, Priest & Kings” (12). bypass the morality of forced labor on the young. In the first quatrain stanza it introduces dialogue between the original speaker and the sweeper. You can see there is dialogue approaching because of the punctuations and quotations used within the stanza. Not only does the punctuation give the reader the idea that another person is involved, but the traditional rhyme scheme AA, BB in the first stanza makes the conversation flow smoothly. The first stanza is the only stanza with rhyming couplets that pairs the two speakers together identifying that both lines back to back is the same person speaking. “A little black thing among the snow / Crying ‘ weep, ‘weep,” in notes of woe!” (1-2). The first two lines show the rhyming couplet as the same speaker. The original speaker who has come across the young child is concerned. “Where are thy father & mother? Say?”/ “They are both

Get Access