Essay about The Voice of the Chimney Sweepers - 1180 Words

William Blake (1757-1827) led a relatively happy life. At an early age, he claimed that he could see God, Angels, and other important Italian figures. Blake’s parents encouraged him to keep a record of all the masters he claimed to keep in contact with. Blake’s father, James Blake, gave him casts and engravings to keep this record. At the age of ten, Blake started at a drawing school named Henry Pars’ Drawing School. Three years later, he was apprenticed to a Master Engraver, James Basire. Blake worked with Basire for seven years, and then attended the Royal Academy School to further his study in drawing, painting, and printmaking. After his studies, he started out engraving and producing illustrations for magazines. In 1783, he happily†¦show more content†¦Children were sent off the squeeze into small places day after day. Limbs could break. Soot was inhaled. The poisonous chemicals in the chimneys caused hazardous situations, and thus medically, the ch ildren were hindered. Children worked anywhere from six to eight hours a day, and were expected to get up bright and early the next day to show up for work. On the occasions that they were allowed off from work, they went home to abusive families or foster homes. Business owners claimed that putting them to work, the children were able to care for themselves, and their poor families. Still, many thought that the hours and dangers heavily outweighed the value of a few coins. Blake was not the only Poet of the time who fought for the rights of the children, but he was one of the few who publically showed his detest for such labors, through his poems, â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper-Songs of Innocence 1789,† and â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper-Songs of Experience 1794.† Blake was able to shed light on the cruelty of society of the work ethic of children, while also promoting what he hoped would help children realize that there is hope in the cruel world. Innocence could be defined in many different ways. Blake defined it as a genuine love, and a trust toward all human kind. Children are particularly susceptible to this definition of â€Å"innocence.† They do not know any better than to trust. This is why theyShow MoreRelatedAn Unfolding of William Blakes quot; the Chimney Sweeperquot;691 Words   |  3 PagesAn Unfolding of William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper. William Blakes poem The Chimney Sweeper gives us a look into the unfortunate lives of 18th century London boys whose primary job was to clear chimneys of the soot that accumulated on its interior; boys that were named climbing boys or chimney sweepers. Blake, a professional engraver, wrote this poem (aabb rhyme), in the voice of a young boy, an uneducated chimney sweeper. This speaker is obviously a persona, a fictitious character createdRead More Oppression and Spiritual Deterioration in William Blakes Poem London1154 Words   |  5 PagesNear where the charterd Thames does flow, 2 And mark in every face I meet, 3 Marks of weakness, marks of woe. 4 In every cry of every Man, 5 In every Infants cry of fear, 6 In every voice, in every ban, 7 The mind-forgd manacles I hear: 8 How the Chimney-sweepers cry 9 Every blackning Church appalls, 10 And the hapless Soldiers sigh, 11 Runs the blood down Palace walls. 12 But most thro midnight streets I hear 13 How the youthful HarlotsRead More William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper Essay672 Words   |  3 PagesWilliam Blakes The Chimney Sweeper William Blakes 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.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  BlakeRead MoreThe Chimney Sweeper : A Little Black Thing Among The Snow1659 Words   |  7 Pagesthe times, and often give a voice to the marginalised and oppressed. As well as this Poets would also made arresting comparisons to children in there poems, they believed children where exceptional due to the poets beliefs that they were innocent and uncorrupted, but also had an affinity with nature. A poet which did so was William Blake, whose poem ‘The chimney sweeper: A little black thing among the snow’ I will be comparing and contrasting to ‘The chimneys sweepers complaint’ by Mary Alock inRead MoreSolemn Soot and Social Despair In the Transformative World of William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper and London817 Words   |  3 Pagesthe Transformative World of William Blake England was changing. The rolling green shires and inspiring scenery that was fixed in the earliest memories of the Romantic poets was quickly vanishing. There was a trade off happening. Rivets for rocks, chimney stacks for trees, locomotives for carriages and steal tracks for cobblestone. Piece by piece England’s quaint agricultural backdrop was being replaced by a stern industrial one. Progress! Some shouted. The greater good! Others exclaimed. ExpansionRead MoreThe Chimney Sweeper And The Tyger878 Words   |  4 Pagesis viewed very differently in â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† and â€Å"The Tyger.† In â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† god is a source of hope and control. If you do your job and stay out of trouble everything will be okay. In â€Å"The Tyger† God is questioned how could someone who made the gentle lamb also make the creature like a tiger. â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† paints God in a light that if you keep your head down and do what you are told everything will be okay. The author uses the voice of a child to represent the innocenceRead More Comparing William Blakes The Tyger and The Lamb Essay1246 Words   |  5 Pagesthe different ways in which people actually experience the world. In â€Å"Songs of Innocence† the language is simple and repetitive, the lines are kept short and the rhymes are obvious. A childlike vision is conveyed through Blakes clever use of voices with their varying perspectives and questions. The poems reveal particular states of being and ways of seeing which the author is not saying are the whole truth. The poems have a joyful quality but they contain a subtle awareness of sorrow. â€Å"SongsRead MoreInnocence and Experience Essay1422 Words   |  6 Pagesthe two versions of â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† and political and social matters raised in the two versions of â€Å"Nurse’s Song† during the Romantic period. First, the two versions of â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† discuss serious problems about religious beliefs in 1800. Back in 1800, there have been misuses of church spiritual power to gain profits out of people’s misery. On the surface, the innocence version of â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† tells of a young boy, who works as a chimney sweeper, get a visit in his dreamRead More Explorations of Childhood and Duty in â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† and â€Å"Casabianca†1786 Words   |  8 Pages Although Blake wrote â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† featured in Songs of Innocence before Felicia Hemans was ever born, issues relevant to first-generation Romantic authors still pervaded the literary scene when second-generation authors like Hemans finally took the stage. â€Å"Casabianca,† published in 1826, and â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper,† published in 1789, both address a central question: What does it mean to be a child? Both poems examine the dut ies that children have to society as a whole. While there isRead MoreEssay on Explication of William Blakes Poem London1706 Words   |  7 Pagesuse as in sadness or weeping (cry). The word â€Å"every† (5-7) is repeated throughout the second stanza. â€Å"Every† (5-7) is used to place an emphasis on the occurrence of the happenings in this stanza. The speaker sees in â€Å"every† â€Å"man,† â€Å"voice,† and â€Å"ban† â€Å"mind-forged manacles† (5-8). Manacles by definition are handcuffs, Blake uses the handcuffs to symbolize a restraint (Manacle). In the â€Å"cry of every man† (5) and in â€Å"every Infant’s cry of fear† (6) the speaker see restraints. He also