Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Blakes The Chimney Sweeper - College Essays

Blakes The Chimney Sweeper


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.
Blake expresses his poem in first person, as a young chimney sweeper. This gives his poetic voice creditability because the subject of the poem is chimney sweepers. In addition, using first person creates a deeper sense of ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

of exploiting these small boys. Most of this symbolism appears to be about death. This gives the poem a dark mood. For example, Blake writes “So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep” (554). Most of the boys who were sold into chimney sweeping died very young because the soot inhalation destroyed their lungs. In this quote sleeping in soot symbolizes dying in soot, or from the soot. Blake also symbolizes these boys’ fate with the lines “That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack/ Were all of them locked up in coffins of black” (554). In this quote the “coffins of black” symbolize the chimneys (554). Ultimately this all symbolizes the boys’ death because of their terrible life cleaning chimneys at such a young age. In the next stanza an Angel comes “And he opened the coffins and set them all free,” which symbolizes the boys’ death and escape to heaven. All of these symbols cause feelings of sympathy in ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login


CITE THIS PAGE:

Blakes The Chimney Sweeper. (2004, March 25). Retrieved March 28, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blakes-The-Chimney-Sweeper/5166
"Blakes The Chimney Sweeper." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 25 Mar. 2004. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blakes-The-Chimney-Sweeper/5166>
"Blakes The Chimney Sweeper." Essayworld.com. March 25, 2004. Accessed March 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blakes-The-Chimney-Sweeper/5166.
"Blakes The Chimney Sweeper." Essayworld.com. March 25, 2004. Accessed March 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blakes-The-Chimney-Sweeper/5166.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 3/25/2004 06:17:46 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 642
Pages: 3

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» The Chimmney Sweeper
» Blakes London And The Chimney
» Poem Analysis The Chimmney Swe
» Blakes's "London": Your Beauty,...
» Never Lose Hope
» London
» William Blake
» William Blake's London
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved