The Hardship of the Chimney Sweepers as Blake Sees it William Blake is able to efficiency tell his point of view regarding the limitations of innocence and experience in The Chimney Sweeper. The poem appears to be written for someone else, because Blake never practices the art of sweeping. However, history has real stories of children enduring this brutal occupation, and Blake uses these examples from these occurrences to point the greedy child exploitation system in 1700s London. Indeed, London did not have a very good reputation in the 1700s. The monarchy used their influence to keep order, poverty was the norm, and there was a conflict of morals. Among other social issues discuss in the two Chimney Sweeper poems is unbalance class structure,
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He gives advice and a little of bit of comfort to Tom Dacre an up and coming one. This exchange is to point out that even though these boys are going through harsh conditions such as climbing up chimneys, breathing in soot, and getting burn, they still look out for the best interest of each other. In fact, one of the boys would help hold one up while they were cleaning chimneys. (Wright, 18). However, in the third line of the third stanza the chimneys are eroding that small sense of community. The narrator states that “Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, were locked up in coffins of black,” (Line 11). The meaning behind this is that thousands of chimney sweepers died because of the hazards of the job, and are place in black coffins. Another thought for the line is that the boys had a hard time forming friendship because their line of work results in numerous deaths. It would be hard to form any type of community to develop when the people around you are going …show more content…
Poverty basically broke down the compassion in London in this time period, because there was high levels of greed and profit to be made. The narrator points out in line two and three that “My father sold me while yet my tongue could scarcely cry,” (Line 2). This means that his father sold him when he was so young that he could not master the skill of basic speech. The parents sometimes misled the buyer about the sweepers age as well. Poverty is the first reason the boys were sold. The second one is stated in Songs of Experience the chimney sweeper has a run in with his parents after they sell and he implies that they actually sold him into the practice because they were jealous of his innocence. Afterwards, they went about their way to church, so with this the hypocrisy of the church was also mention as well. In fact, many scholars of the time have carefully pointed out that the church stood quietly by while London suffers through a lot of social aliments such as child exploitation. The church should be the first institution that gives a sense of compassion and community, yet clergy figures did not step forward and ask for the practice to be discontinued. They were not even granted entrance in the church because they were too dirty from the work, further severing the sense of compassion. (Parliamentary Committee, 16-19).
He gives advice and a little of bit of comfort to Tom Dacre an up and coming one. This exchange is to point out that even though these boys are going through harsh conditions such as climbing up chimneys, breathing in soot, and getting burn, they still look out for the best interest of each other. In fact, one of the boys would help hold one up while they were cleaning chimneys. (Wright, 18). However, in the third line of the third stanza the chimneys are eroding that small sense of community. The narrator states that “Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, were locked up in coffins of black,” (Line 11). The meaning behind this is that thousands of chimney sweepers died because of the hazards of the job, and are place in black coffins. Another thought for the line is that the boys had a hard time forming friendship because their line of work results in numerous deaths. It would be hard to form any type of community to develop when the people around you are going …show more content…
Poverty basically broke down the compassion in London in this time period, because there was high levels of greed and profit to be made. The narrator points out in line two and three that “My father sold me while yet my tongue could scarcely cry,” (Line 2). This means that his father sold him when he was so young that he could not master the skill of basic speech. The parents sometimes misled the buyer about the sweepers age as well. Poverty is the first reason the boys were sold. The second one is stated in Songs of Experience the chimney sweeper has a run in with his parents after they sell and he implies that they actually sold him into the practice because they were jealous of his innocence. Afterwards, they went about their way to church, so with this the hypocrisy of the church was also mention as well. In fact, many scholars of the time have carefully pointed out that the church stood quietly by while London suffers through a lot of social aliments such as child exploitation. The church should be the first institution that gives a sense of compassion and community, yet clergy figures did not step forward and ask for the practice to be discontinued. They were not even granted entrance in the church because they were too dirty from the work, further severing the sense of compassion. (Parliamentary Committee, 16-19).