Chimney Sweeper By William Blake Analysis
In his poem, “Chimney Sweeper” (from the Songs of Innocence), William Blake portrays 18th century England as a place of injustice and brutality through the eyes of an innocent chimney sweep. While the pure boy who narrates the poem does not realize the harsh realities of his life, Blake nonetheless manages to convey the desolate landscape which he was raised in with clarity. Through his use of a first person perspective, the metaphor of innocence and corruption, and an unreliable narrator, Blake establishes a stark contrast between the child’s innocent perspective and the iniquitous world which surrounds him in order to expose the immorality of child exploitation and labor. In order to fully understand “Chimney Sweeper,” one must first establish the historical framework of life in 18th century England as it would have been experienced by a chimney sweep. The majority of sweeps were orphans and paupers forced into a lifestyle of miserable work because of circumstances out of their control. Whether it be their abandonment for economic reasons or the death of a parent, the children were forced to fend for themselves. Not only was the job miserable, but …show more content…
Hence, there exist no layers of abstraction between the abused and the bystanders, which breaks down any potential distance which the reader could establish between themselves and the exploited narrator. In order to reinforce this theme, Blake subsequently addresses the reader in line 4, “So your chimneys I sweep.” This forceful thrust into the reader’s lives triggers the realization that they too exist within a system that perpetuates the oppression and abuse of young working boys. Thus, the poem perhaps implicates those who stand complacent against social injustice as being guilty through either naivete or
How Is Equality 7-2521 Treated Unfairly Amongst His Society
668 Words | 3 PagesPeople who were either to weak in the society, and were useless for any other job besides a Street Sweeper, or those who were too talented were assigned this menial job of being a Street Sweeper. International 4-8818, Union 5-3992, Fraternity 2-5503, and Solidarity 9-6347 were some of the people that were also assigned the job of a Street Sweeper like Equality 7-2521. In school Equality 7-2521 didn’t enjoy it that much because he was too intelligent for his classmates. Equality 7-2521 knew that he didn’t fit in. He tried to act like Union 5-3992, but that only resulted in Equality 7-2521 being punished.
How Did The Dust Bowl Affect The Farmer's Health
836 Words | 4 PagesBecause of the little money the farmers were making many were forced to leave and find work elsewhere. One-fourth of the people who lived in the Dust Bowl left the region. Many of them had skills beyond farming, and when they didn’t find work they suffered extreme poverty.(UXL Encyclopedia of Weather and Natural Disasters. Ed. Amy Hackney Blackwell and Elizabeth Manor.)(p223-225).
Florence Kelley Ap Language Essay
702 Words | 3 PagesIn the third paragraph, Kelly describes how on a given night “several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms.” This auditory imagery is intended to portray the painfully loud noises created by the machinery that young children are forced to work among. Additionally, Kelley depicts “a girl of six or seven years, just tall enough to reach the bobbins,” who may spend the whole night working in a factory. This image emphasizes how incredibly young and small many working girls are, making child labor unsafe and unethical. Florence Kelley’s use of such emotive imagery moves the audience to pity working
Innocence In Alden Nowlan's The Fall Of A City
704 Words | 3 PagesInnocence is the idea of being blameless and free from any wrongs because one devoid in making any decisions. However, at times those who are innocent cause frenzy and disruptions in a family. Alden Nowlan’s, The Fall of a City, portrays how Teddy, an eleven year old boy, full of imagination in his own little world is ridiculed by his aunt and uncle whom believe that he is up to something in the attic. Subsequently, it is accentuated that his imagination blinds him from realizing the reality that his imaginations are illusions. Throughout this short story, Nowlan demonstrates how naivety and innocence blinds one from realizing the truth by juxtaposing the two settings and emphasizing on the conflicts.
Rhetorical Analysis Of Florence Kelly's Speech
838 Words | 4 PagesShe expresses that, “North and South Carolina and Georgia place no restriction upon the work of children at night; and while we sleep little white girls will be working tonight in the mills in those states, working eleven hours at night,” (Line 27-31.) She uses the phrase ‘while we sleep’ to generate feelings of remorse among the listeners as the children work tirelessly on end while the adults are resting. She also uses the phrase ‘little white girls’ to create more sympathy as girls were seen as frail and innocent, and it creates the question ‘Why is an innocent and weak person being forced to work laboriously?’. She also states, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy,” (Line 18-22.) She uses auditory imagery in the pathos argument above for her audience to better understand the harsh conditions that the children work in.
My Father's Lunch Poem
813 Words | 4 PagesFor different people, comparable situations do not always reproduce the same end results or leave the same impressions. Rather, the resulting conclusion is often highly variable. As is the case of two labors featured in the poems, My Father’s Lunch” and “The life of a Digger”. While Erica Funkhouser’s speaker, Henry, experiences injustice and lack of reward for his hard labor in “The Life of a Digger,” Margarita Engle’s speaker experiences prosperity and remuneration for their father’s hard work in “My Father’s Lunch.” Each author uses the setting of a laboring man’s lunch break to demonstrate the ramifications of a hard day’s work and the rewards or lack thereof for their efforts.
An Analysis Of Poem In 'Incident' By Natasha Tretheway
873 Words | 4 PagesThrough the poem’s tone, metaphors used, and symbols expressed the poem portrays that fear can make life seem charred or obsolete, but in reality life propels through all seasons and obstacles it faces. The poem begins with a tone of conversation, but as it progresses the tone changes to a form of fear and secretiveness. The beginning and ending line “we tell
Gary Soto Behind Grandma's House Analysis
1042 Words | 5 PagesIn his poem “Behind Grandma’s House,” Gary Soto details the life and daily routine of a somewhat masochistic ten year old boy as he kicks over trash cans, terrorizes cats, and drowns ant colonies with his own urine. In many ways the boy acts as any other boy his age would be expected to, but he tends to go further than most young boys with his actions and descriptions of how he feels. This extra violence and destructive tendency the narrator exhibits can lead the reader to believe that, rather than being a typical child, he strongly craves attention due to his circumstances, and he is willing to act out and act obscenely in order to receive that attention. Throughout the poem the narrator details all the things he does to prove how tough he is, many
Literary Analysis Of 'Blackberries' By Yusef Kounyakaa
863 Words | 4 Pages"They left my hands like a printer’s or thieves before a police blotter" (line1-2), which begins the poem with an unforeseen dull meaning. This makes an unmistakable picture of his hands recolored purple, in each niche and wrinkle on his hand. The words in this poem influences it to appear that the boy considers himself nothing superior to a criminal. The boy fending for himself denies him of that sweet youth purity. However, "almost needful as forgiveness"(line 12-13), gives the feeling that the boy is waiting for pardoning.
Foreshadowing In The Yellow Wallpaper
1112 Words | 5 PagesTo develop the setting of the house, Gilman uses vivid diction to craft an image of the house to show how men a imprisoning the minds of women in Victorian society. Gilman introduces the house as a “colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity” (1066). Although her description uses the words “romantic felicity” which seem to carry a light tone, these words are preceded by the dark statement that the estate is a “haunted house”. By contrasting these two tones, Gilman foreshadows that the house in which the narrator is interned for treatment might seem magnificent and grand, but in reality, the house and the rest cure will turn out to be her doom. The foreshadowing hints that Gilman uses the contrasting description of the house to point out how physicians like John are oppressing women by denying them their right to a postpartum experience with their baby, a thing of “romantic felicity,” and instead, turning it into an ordeal as nightmarish as a “haunted house.”
Analysis Of My Papas Waltz By Theodore Roethke
764 Words | 4 PagesRoethke’s My Papas Waltz Many literary scholars, researchers and readers in general, driven by intrigue, have tried to dissect, analyze, and interpret the ambiguous meaning of Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz.” Their explications however, result in ambivalent, and sometimes controversial views. Some critics argue that “My Papas Waltz,” portrays the physical violence inflicted by a father to his child.
I Stood Upon A High Place Human Nature Essay
642 Words | 3 PagesThe narrator within the poem perceives himself as superior to the subjects that he observes, and recognizes that they behave as savages due to the absence of rules and boundaries. They fail to acknowledge the error in their destructive behavior and continue to act with free will, which portrays human nature as wicked and unruly. One of them glanced at the narrator and insinuated that they were equals, which implies that the narrator also indulges in sinful behavior with the rest of them. Despite the narrator’s feeling of superiority, their actions reflect the same manner as those they view as beneath them. There exists a domino effect that causes the behavior of others to influence the nature of those surrounding them.
Analysis Of The Poem Doctor To Patient By Bruce Dawe
244 Words | 1 PagesThis poem also comments on societies attitude towards the unemployed and people in a bad situation. It comments on societies apathy to bad situations experienced by others and disgust of disadvantaged and poor people. The poem reads like a list of all the things the person is supposed to follow, "eat with
Analysis Of Planting A Sequoia By Dana Gioia
1100 Words | 5 PagesThe agony the writer is feeling about his son 's death, as well as the hint of optimism through planting the tree is powerfully depicted through the devices of diction and imagery throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker describes the setting when planting the Sequoia; “Rain blacked the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific, / And the sky above us stayed the dull gray.” The speaker uses a lexicon of words such as “blackened”, “cold” and “dull gray” which all introduce a harsh and sorrowful tone to the poem. Pathetic fallacy is also used through the imagery of nature;
Role Of Imagination In Romantic Poetry
1932 Words | 8 PagesIn “The Chimney Sweeper”, the little boy imagines: And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open’d the coffins & set them all free; Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun
More about Chimney Sweeper By William Blake Analysis
How Is Equality 7-2521 Treated Unfairly Amongst His Society
668 Words | 3 PagesHow Did The Dust Bowl Affect The Farmer's Health
836 Words | 4 PagesFlorence Kelley Ap Language Essay
702 Words | 3 PagesInnocence In Alden Nowlan's The Fall Of A City
704 Words | 3 PagesRhetorical Analysis Of Florence Kelly's Speech
838 Words | 4 PagesMy Father's Lunch Poem
813 Words | 4 PagesAn Analysis Of Poem In 'Incident' By Natasha Tretheway
873 Words | 4 PagesGary Soto Behind Grandma's House Analysis
1042 Words | 5 PagesLiterary Analysis Of 'Blackberries' By Yusef Kounyakaa
863 Words | 4 PagesForeshadowing In The Yellow Wallpaper
1112 Words | 5 PagesAnalysis Of My Papas Waltz By Theodore Roethke
764 Words | 4 PagesI Stood Upon A High Place Human Nature Essay
642 Words | 3 PagesAnalysis Of The Poem Doctor To Patient By Bruce Dawe
244 Words | 1 PagesAnalysis Of Planting A Sequoia By Dana Gioia
1100 Words | 5 PagesRole Of Imagination In Romantic Poetry
1932 Words | 8 Pages