The+Chimney+Sweeper 

By William Blake

William Blake
Apart of the romanticism literary movement Other pieces of work by him include: //The Lamb, London, Holy Thursday, The Tyger, Proverbs of Hell, To Summer,// //To Winter, The Echoing Green, Eternity, Love's Secret, The Sick Rose, The Garden of Love, Night, Milton, Spring// Largely unrecognized during his lifetime ** The Chimney Sweeper ** When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry "'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!" So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.
 * Born**: November 28, 1757 in Soho, London, Great Britain
 * Died**: August 12, 1827, at age 69 in Charring Cross, London, Great Britain
 * Occupation**: Poet, painter, print maker
 * Spouse**: Catherine Boucher

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."

And so he was quiet, and that very night, As Tom was asleeping, he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins and them all free; Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind; And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work. Though the mornings was cold, Tom was happy and warm; So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

Highlights the injustice and brutality suffered by child chimney sweeps in the late 18th and 19th centuries. -"So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep" - "the soot cannot spoil your white hair" It was common for young boys (as young as 7 years old) to clean chimneys. Sweeps' boys were usually parish children or orphans, though others were sold into the trade by their families. Conditions for these boys were harsh and often cruel. -Slept in cellars on bags of soot -Years of accumulated soot and grime often produced cancer -Dangerous and filthy since there was a lack of safety clothing and respirators -Casualties were common as boys became stuck in narrow flues, suffocation from the dust or fell from climbing rotten chimney stacks
 * Historical Context**

The poem is narrated by a young boy who was sold into the chimney sweeper business when his mother died. The narrator tells the story of Tom Dacre, a fellow chimney sweeper, who dreams of a somewhat apocalyptic dream of the chimney sweepers' "heaven". The boys carry on with their terrible, probably fatal work, because of their hope in a future where the circumstances will be set right. Blake hints at religious aspects of the poem through the idea of doing their work to the best of their ability, they will be able to go to heaven in the end.
 * Popular Interpretations**

-__Theme:__ -Living uneasy lives will pay off in the end when getting to heaven. -Innocence will not be wasted since it will pay off in the end when getting to heaven.
 * TIME**

__-Imagery and Figurative Language:__ -Simile- "That curled like a lamb's back" -Imagery- "And by came an Angel who had a bright key, and he opened the coffins and them all free" -Metonymy- "And my father sold me while yet my tongue"

-__Meter__ -Six quatrains -AABB rhyme scheme -Two rhyming couplets per quatrain -Slant rhyme- "dark" and "work", "warm" and "harm" -Hints that nothing is as it may seem

-__Emotion/Tone/Mood__ -Irony -Exuberant tone as the boy's dream is described and the lines lightly rhyme -Wistful tone- "And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, he'd have God for his father, and never want joy" -Subtle suggestion of irony that everything will turn out okay -Last two lines appear to rhyme, oppose each other in connotation, thus underlining the irony of Blake's real message that is disguised with wistful, exciting, and peaceful tones.

-"Ruchala Chimney Sweeping." //History of the Chimney Sweep//. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017. -Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence): Stanza 6 Summary."//Shmoop//. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
 * Works Cited**
 * -**"Describe the Tone of "The Chimney Sweeper". //Enotes.com// Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.