What Does The Chimney Sweeper Mean

“Some get drowned in a well,” (Hughes, 463) represents that innocence is sometimes killed accidentally and “Some run over by cars-” (Hughes, 463) represents that innocence is sometimes killed by others. The final line in the first stanza represents that innocence never truly dies (Hughes, 463). The second stanza states, “What happen to little cats,/ New born, not been here

In America’s history, Native Americans have been discriminated against and oppressed repeatedly. Various authors have brought attention to the mistreatment of this group of people, and the theme of Natives and the American Dream can be seen in numerous literary works. In the poems “Ellis Island” by Joseph Bruchac III and “Evolution” by Sherman Alexie, the authors bring attention to the hardships Native Americans have faced, and show a different perspective of the American Dream.

In 1994 a report by the Mollen commission on police corruption in New York exposed disproportionate corruption within the department. Violent crime, including gang type activity, cops in uniform routinely storming drug locations and stealing narcotics, money weapons and whatever they felt like taking. On duty police officers riding alongside drug dealers, providing protection while the dealers carried big amounts of drugs and cash. The commission also found cops who became drug dealers themselves starting up their own drug dealing networks and delivery centers. (Neighborhood Explanations) Although most officers are honest and hard-working, the Mollen report exposed serious, violent activity by some in the department.

Furthermore, his description of Tom Dacre’s dream shows the wonder and awe with which he looked at the chain of events. In the stanza’s where the dream is described, words such as “bright,”(l.13) ” free,” (l.14) “ leaping,” (l.15) and “laughing” (l.15) add to the positive outlook of the poem, continuing the hopeful and idealistic viewpoint of the speaker. The surreal description of a life where the chimney sweepers hard work promises them a better future gives the narrator hope to live a good life, free from the prison-like bonds of chimney sweeping. After the narrator and Tom woke, they continued their day’s work, but it was a result of Tom’s dream that the children thought there was something better in store for their future, even though their hope is not necessarily justified. Their faith gives them an unrealistically positive view of the morbid life that they lead. In juxtaposition, the attitude of the speaker in Songs of Experience is conducive to a cynical or bitter view of their life and their future. The child chimney sweeper is approached by another speaker who wonders at the current conditions of the life the young child is living. The child is spiteful when he describes his belief that his parents made him begin chimney

The speaker begins to portray an image in the readers mind, we question what is this little black thing until the second line confirming that it is a child covered in soot alone in the snow crying. This image seems to stick out since there a sharp distinction between the black soot covered boy and beautiful sparkling snow he is sitting in. That feeling of loneliness and abandonment is like how Jane Eyre felt as a child. Her mother dies when she is young, and is forced to live with her abusive Aunt. She is treated badly by her family. Continuing with Blake’s poem the child is asked where his parents are, the boy shows the hypocrisy by stating they are at church praying while he is left in the snow.

At the beginning of the poem, Blake is describing a young boy’s harsh childhood. The speaker’s mother was killed when he was not even old enough to talk. After that his father sold him to be chimney sweeper. His mother’s death seemed to be the turning point. It caused every aspect of his life to go downhill. He went from being an innocent little boy who had loving parents, to a nasty, orphaned chimney sweeper. Through the poem the young boy’s innocence was overruled and forgotten when they became chimney sweepers.

“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

The second stanza is almost like the first in the fact that it appeals to the same senses. It talks about the actions and the feelings of the child. It describes how the child would wake and wait for his father to call him. The second stanza also describes the mood of the house in the line, "fearing the chronic angers of that house." Perhaps that line is

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.

The poem begins by the father first giving his son a very formal goodbye and explains the relationship between the two. Though it initially does not seem to be that deep, it later demonstrates the connection as he says “child of my right hand, and joy” showing the happiness the child brings his as well as how he is dependable or always right there. In the next line, he goes on to explain his sin which plays into the guilt aspect of this piece. He fears that his trouble was having too high of expectations for his first born, thus not giving the child enough faith that what he was doing was also acceptable. Perhaps the father is feeling that he did not give his child enough reassurance while he had the chance. The next line is key to the poem and tells us the age of his son when he died, telling us that he was seven year old, while the second part is saying that he is paying for his childs death.

Chimney Sweeper from Song of Innocence is an example by noticing that there is a young work force, where these children need to be small in order to fit down the chimney and are sold by their families. There crying of “weep, weep” is a sound device of romantic irony, Song of Experience, The Chimney Sweeper also talks about the “notes of woe”. Along with social class of these little children working this dangerous job in order to sustain some sort of income since they were of the lower class. Religion is being called upon with the character Tom Dacre, a new member of the sweepers. In lines thirteen and fourteen, “And by came an Angel who has a bright key, and he open’d the coffins & set them all free” this emphasizing that if you do your work that is given to you then you will be sent to heaven and be rewarded. Blake was anti-Christianity so he was going against this norm of religion

The poem uses symbolism to convey it’s message. For instance in ““Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Old age should burn at close of day. “Night and “Close of day” represents the afterlife, or death. “Do not go gentle into that good night” is basically the author is using that symbol to say say that you should

It tells what Christ did for the sins of people who did not even care for Him. The beginning of the poem is about the beginning of someone’s spiritual life where they are just being introduced to Christ and the end being redeemed. This passage is the part in the poem that connects the beginning with the end. For people uncertain in what they believe about Christ this passage can give someone the act of being redeemed as it did for the Dreamer at the end of the poem.

     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

In “The Chimney Sweeper” William Blake draws out the image of life as a literal chimney sweeper in London during the late eighteenth century. Blake explains the struggles of a young boy who has to endure the painful lifestyle after his mother passed and his father sold him to the sweeping business. After reading the poem once through, techniques such as rhyme and diction stand out, but a close reading of the poem shows the central issue Blake is trying to address in “The Chimney Sweeper”: inequality. The figurative language used in the poem emphasizes the justice he wants served when referring to the harsh conditions of child labor.