William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper Essay - 918 Words

William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper William Blake’s â€Å"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. In lines 4 – 8 when Blake writes, â€Å"There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved: so I said ‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.’ These lines symbolize faith in the biblical sense. Young Tom’s is like that of the sacrificial lamb of God and when the narrator tells Tom to stop crying because he†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"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 t heir lives including their jobs. â€Å"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. â€Å"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. â€Å"The little Sweeps dream has the spiritual touch peculiar to Blakes hand.... (Gilchrist).† As stated before Blake is trying to conveyShow MoreRelated William Blakes Chimney Sweeper Essay1976 Words   |  8 PagesWilliam Blakes Chimney Sweeper In this essay I am going to explore Blakes Chimney Sweeper poems from the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. During this essay I will cover Blakes life and times and the way chimney sweepers get treated around that time and what Blake attempts to do about it. Blake was born on November 28 in the year 1757. His parents where strict but understanding. Blakes parents realized early in his life that Blake was gifted. HeRead MoreAn Analysis of William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper1225 Words   |  5 PagesThesis Statement: This paper will analyze Blakes Chimney Sweeper and show how it presents an image of both experience and innocence, holding the latter up as a kind of light in the dark world of the child chimney sweepers. Outline I.Introduction A.Innocence and Experience B.The Chimney Sweeper connects both II.Recollections of a lost childhood A.Mother B.Father C.Sold into urban slavery III.Little Tom A.Hair like a Lamb B.Religious imagery C.The narrator tries to comfort him IV.RealRead More William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper Essay672 Words   |  3 PagesWilliam Blakes The Chimney Sweeper William Blakes 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.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  BlakeRead MoreWilliam Blakes Chimney Sweeper Poems858 Words   |  4 Pages Chimney sweeper Essay Writers and artists are influenced by the culture of their time. They respond to the world around them through their work. In the 18th century, England was plagued by the gruesome repercussions of the industrial revolution. One such repercussion was the child labor of the time, where young boys at the ages of five and six were for forced to work in harsh conditions, either sweeping chimneys or working in factories. William Blake used his romantic style of writing to commentateRead MoreAn Unfolding of William Blakes quot; the Chimney Sweeperquot;691 Words   |  3 PagesAn Unfolding of William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper. 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Both poems are similar in that he uses the actions and view point of the child speaker to express his rage against societyRead More William Blakes The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London1520 Words   |  7 PagesCompare and Contrast William Blakes 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. The children worked in the cold. 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This movement as defined by one of its creators William Wordsworth was, in the preface of their collaborated work Lyrical Ballads with Samuel Coleridge, â€Å"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.(Wordsworth 1) Although the definition matched with the psychological and literary situation of the era, a couple romantic authors existed outside of the definition. William Blake was different and defined as pre-romantic author byRead MoreSolemn Soot and Social Despair In the Transformative World of William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper and London817 Words   |  3 PagesSolemn Soot and Social Despair In the Transformative World of William Blake England was changing. The rolling green shires and inspiring scenery that was fixed in the earliest memories of the Romantic poets was quickly vanishing. There was a trade off happening. Rivets for rocks, chimney stacks for trees, locomotives for carriages and steal tracks for cobblestone. Piece by piece England’s quaint agricultural backdrop was being replaced by a stern industrial one. Progress! Some shouted. The greater