● Discuss the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” in your own words.
● The poem ‘The chimney sweeper’ depicts the misery of young and innocent children” discuss.
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER
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ABOUT THE POET:
William Blake ( November 28,1757- August 12,1827 ) was an English poet, painter and printmaker. Because of his expressiveness and creativity as well as the philosophical attitude Blake is highly regarded today. Among his other works, songs of Innocence and songs of Experience are famous ones. This is one of the most disturbing of all the songs of innocence. Blake has taken up a social problem as the background of the poem. He has also written the same poem in songs of Experience. In this poem, black gives voice to the pain of chimney sweeper.
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The background of the poem
In England in the time of Blake sometimes boys of about seven years of age were sold. They were used to clear chimneys. A boy with a brush in his hand would be sent up in a chimney. He was supposed to clean the soot that had gathered on the inner walls of the chimney. They worked for six or seven hours a day. Their masters treated them brutally. They were not given enough food or clothes. While sweeping the chimney they were in constant danger of suffocation or burning. Moreover, due to dirt in the chimney, they had to face many diseases. They constantly lived in unhealthy and dangerous situations.
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SUMMARY AND EXPLANATION
The first stanza in the poem describes the pathetic condition of a chimney sweeper boy. In this poem, the speaker is also a chimney sweeper. He is very young. His mother has died. There is a great pain in the voice of the chimney sweeper. This motherless child was sold by his father at a very young age. He was so young that he could not even cry at that time. The boy with a pain in his voice says that because of this, he cleans the chimneys of other people. He further says that he sleeps on the soot, as they had no mattresses or straw to sleep on.
Then the speaker talks about a boy named Tom Darce. He says that Tom’s head was shaved. At that time he cried a lot, but the speaker consoled him saying that it was good for him. Thus, he tried to console him. This was a very common thing for boys. Tears were the part and parcel of the life of a sweeper.
Then there was a frightening experience. Tom saw a surprising sight in his dream. He saw that the chimney had become a coffin-like thing for them. This is very suggestive. However ,as this is a poem of innocence we should not take it as a metaphor. To be in a chimney is really a horrible thing. Nobody knows what would happen there. Sometimes boys got stuck there. Sometimes they felt suffocated. Therefore, Tom compares a chimney as a coffin. Just like a coffin everything is dark there.
Although the situation is gloomy, Tom is a bit optimistic. He sees a dream. In the dream he sees that an angel comes . He sets all the chimney sweepers free. All the sweepers are very happy. They express their joy by dancing and running on the ground. They wash themselves in the river. Then all of them go in the clouds. There they will meet the God. The angel tells them to be good so that they can be favorite with God. The dream is over. But it leaves a great impact on the children. They forget their pain. They get up early in the morning and go to work with their brushes and bags. Tom feels that God is with him.
There is a moral at the end of the poem. It teaches the children not to neglect their duties. However, there is an irony in it. This irony is for those who exploit the children. Throughout the poem the poet gives a pitiable picture of chimney sweepers. However at the end the moral is not for the chimney sweepers, but for those who make use of them.
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CONCLUSION
To sum up, the poem aptly gives the voice to the miseries of young and innocent children who are forced to lead lives of extreme suffering and hardship as chimney sweepers. The poem becomes more effective as the boy himself describes his situation and brings God into it. This is a convert anger of the poet at the exploitation of children in his times.