CHIMNEY SWEEPERS BY WILLIAM BLAKE poem analysis

PATHETIC AND WORST CONDITIONS OF CHILD LABOURERS IN CHIMNEY SWEEPERS BY WILLIAM BLAKE

 Abstract:

          This paper deals with the pathetic and worst conditions of child labourers. In the poem Chimney Sweeper by William Blake. It is narrated by the author. This poem describes about the poor condition of child labourers. It portrays the problem of our real life which happen in our society. Here Blake depicts the black life of the chimney sweepers and their innocence and sufferings. This poem is a didactic one. The words of the poem is very simple and readers can easily understand. The poetic style of the poem is plain with the usage of several symbols. figure of speech, images and fantasy. Blake depicts himself as a speaker who reveals the evil things in our society and portrays the state of pathetic conditions of the child labourers.

Keywords:

          Hapless, Solace, Dejection, Benevolence, Indiscretion

          The Chimney Sweeper was written by William Blake. He was a poet, painter, artist and philosophical anarchist. His major works are “Political Sketches” (1783) “ Songs of Innocence” (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794). This poem “ Chimney Sweeper” was taken from ““Songs of Innocence. It says about the condition of the children employed as chimney sweepers by factories and Industries. This poem succeeded by its imaginative quality. His songs of Innocence, the gentlest of his volumes of lyrics.

          Several themes are implicated in this poem such as slave trade, poverty stricken, innocence, death, suffering, religion and moral. The focus of his poem is child labourer’s sufferings. The poem writes…

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 & in soot I sleep.
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, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick Joe, Ned, &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 & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
Then naked & 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& never want joy.

          The poem opens with the quote “When my mother died I was very young”. In this line he says that his mother died when he was very young but his father sold him to an industrialist is a very small age. He was employed to sweep the chimneys which is fully black. He slept in that ashes. Then he Portrayed another little boy named Tom Dacre, who also employed as a chimney sweeper in the same industry. One day Tom was asleep, and he had a dream. In his dream thousand sweepers appeared but he mentioned some names like Dick, Joe, Ned, Jack. These boys were chimney boys, they were all locked in black coffin. In this dream an Angel came to open the black coffin with the bright key. The Angel set the children free. From now onwards they felt greatly delighted and pleased. Earlier they suffered a lot but now they came out of that and see the sunshine. Angel said to Tom they faith in god who would always care for their happiness and health. At last Tom also had a hope of life. He thought that no harm comes to him who worships his work as a divine one.

          In the world many children are suffering as child labourers. They lived in a gloomy state. The main reasons for their sufferings were poverty and their innocence, which stimulated them for their pathetic situation. So they indulged with distress in their life. From this poem, we can clearly understand that many children endure the pain of slave-trade. In a very small age they are entirely under the control of their masters. They suffer great deal of pains and work hard till death. They never look forward of their futurity. The employers who treat the children as a slaves extract their health and they take away the life of the children day by day. So they lack energy in their life. In their life they have no money and starue very much. In the society also discrimination prevails. Eventhough the Government takes steps to improve their life style yet they are surviving in their old ethics. Bondage is one of the evil thing in the society. World mainly centres around the rich and the aristocratic. The poor have wore really hard and they earn hardly enough to keep body and soul together but the rich landlords and aristocrats enjoy all the benefits by using their labour. There is no state educational system for the poor people. Children of well-to-do families are luckier than the poor children. Elementary education is must for the children under the age of 15. But some people are not following this educational system.

          Our real problem in India is not politics. It is social based because our society only discriminates the people. This condition is not only prevailing in India, but among all nations. From the earliest beginning of History, India had the problems of racial unity, oppression, discrimination and slave trade.
If we want to find the solution for these problems. We have to try to change our society. Then only we can get the solution of these problems. The upper class people suppress the low class people as a dominated one. When a child lost his/her own mother, he/she lacks the fondness of his/her mother. This leads the child to stay aloof. This is the foremost pitiable state of the child. Children are unaware of the meaning for “death”. Child labourers could not tolerate the pain and sufferings. So they are longing for death in a very small age. The pathetic condition in this poem is that the father itself sold his son to an industry as a worker. In some family parents themselves sell their children in return of a few pennies many children are not willing to go to the school and they stop their schooling. Due to these reasons, children in their young age become child Labourers. Even though government provides many opportunities like free and compulsory education to children our society does not provide importance to these things.

          William Blake was this narrator of this poem. He describes the sufferings of the child Labourers. He portrays himself as a chimney sweeper. In that industry he suffered a lot. He endured several injurious. He gave advice to a small boy named Tom Dacre.

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.”

          Through these lines we can understand that a small boy, who also has a pain of sufferings tolerates it. But he tries to give solace to another boy. It describes the boy’s innocence and benevolence.

          Then the author describes that an anger came and had a bright key to open the coffins. After a certain happenings, the Labourers are set free. After that they reen-down joyfully and enjoyed to see the world. They felt that they got liberation.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he opened 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.

          Then an Angel announces to Tom that whoever have a faith in God, they get the kindly light and most loved by God. “He’d have God for his father and never want joy”.

          And the next day onwards Tom has a state of cheerfulness and gay. Then he is eager to take up his bag and goes to chimney industry with whole-heartedly because he has a belief on God and thinks if he does his duty, no harm will come to him.

          Here is a video link about the poem

We can find out many imaginative qualities and images in this poem. Blake used metonymy and simile also. The poem is made up of six stanzas and four lines each. The rhyme scheme of the poem is aa bb cc dd. When we read the poem, which makes it the reader painful in a state of dejection, melancholy, passion and haplessness. Blake concludes the poem with great hope and desire in God. Thus in this poem Chimney Sweeper, William Blake indicates the pathetic and worst conditions of child Labourers.