The Chimney Sweeper 1789 Songs of Innocence Experience

“The Chimney Sweeper” (1789)

Songs of Innocence Experience Songs of http: //www. tate. org. uk/learn/online-resources/william-blake/songs-innocence-and-experience/songs-innocence-chimney-sw

“The Chimney Sweeper, ” Songs of Innocence • Repetition: “’weep! ’weep!” • Alliteration: sweep/soot/sleep his/head soot/spoil leaping/laughing shine/sun bags/brushes • Simile: …curled like a lamb’s back… • Symbolism: …spoil your white hair (INNOCENCE) And by came an Angel who had a bright key/And he opened the coffins and set them all free. (ST. PETER WELCOMING THEM TO HEAVEN, FREEING THEM FROM DESPAIR) Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, (HEAVEN) And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. (THEIR PURIFICATION) Then naked and white, all their bags left behind. (THEIR RETURN Rhyme: young/tongue weep/sleep head/said bare/hair night/sight Jack/black key/free run/sun behind/wind boy/joy dark/work warm/harm • Internal Rhyme: quiet/night • Metaphor: Were all them locked up in coffins in black. • Irony: So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

Blake’s Social Criticism: Industrial Revolution and Child Labor [Fifty-one years after Blake’s poem was published, in] 1840, an act was [finally] passed that prohibited those less than 21 years of age to be forced or knowingly permitted to engage in chimney sweeping…. In 1864, a penalty was kept for the offenders. The Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875 ensured the registration of all chimney sweeps with the police along with an official supervision of their work. Gradually, alternative methods for sweeping chimneys came up which could save the lives of innocent children. (Gulati) Gulati, Nitika. “William Blake’s ‘The Chimney Sweeper’: Text and Context. ” Thirstt. com. Thirstt, 3 Sept. 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.