Poetry Essay
Poetry Essay
ENGL 102: Literature and Composition
Fall B 2014
Erin P. Klemm ID# 25520975
Writing Style Used - MLA
Through the voice of innocence in “The Chimney Sweeper”, William Blake uses irony to shine a light on the treatment and horrid conditions of child chimney sweepers. The poem serves as a public commentary on the ills of society as Blake sees the use of children as chimney sweepers to be. This makes the overall tone of the poem one of sadness and conveys the compassion Blake feels for the plight of the child chimney sweepers.
Blake first uses irony in the opening lines of the poem. The child, too young to properly pronounce ‘sweep’ as he calls to potential customers from the streets instead cries out ““weep! weep! weep! weep!”” (Blake 520). The irony presented here is through the play on words sweep and weep. Blake uses the ironic point of view to present the image of a small child covered in soot weeping in the street as he has realized that he is now an orphan forced to work as chimney sweeper. Further irony can be seen in the cheery tone of the child uses when speaking to comfort his friend who is upset after having his head of beautiful hair shaved (Blake 520). The closing lines of the poem are also ironic in their sarcastic nature. The “duty” of the boys is to clean chimney which was a very dangerous job on many levels. Children frequently died of suffocation inside the chimneys and were exposed to soot that contained carcinogenic elements (Schuster 21). By preforming their “duty” as chimney sweeps, the boys had many reason to fear harm. The irony of “duty” in the last line of the poem can also be expanded to the failure of those that owed a duty to the child. The boy’s father failed to provide and care for him after the death of his mother and sold him to the chimney sweepers (Blake 520). One can also glean from the poem that the chimney sweep masters do not perform their duty to care for their wards and treat children poorly
ENGL 102: Literature and Composition
Fall B 2014
Erin P. Klemm ID# 25520975
Writing Style Used - MLA
Through the voice of innocence in “The Chimney Sweeper”, William Blake uses irony to shine a light on the treatment and horrid conditions of child chimney sweepers. The poem serves as a public commentary on the ills of society as Blake sees the use of children as chimney sweepers to be. This makes the overall tone of the poem one of sadness and conveys the compassion Blake feels for the plight of the child chimney sweepers.
Blake first uses irony in the opening lines of the poem. The child, too young to properly pronounce ‘sweep’ as he calls to potential customers from the streets instead cries out ““weep! weep! weep! weep!”” (Blake 520). The irony presented here is through the play on words sweep and weep. Blake uses the ironic point of view to present the image of a small child covered in soot weeping in the street as he has realized that he is now an orphan forced to work as chimney sweeper. Further irony can be seen in the cheery tone of the child uses when speaking to comfort his friend who is upset after having his head of beautiful hair shaved (Blake 520). The closing lines of the poem are also ironic in their sarcastic nature. The “duty” of the boys is to clean chimney which was a very dangerous job on many levels. Children frequently died of suffocation inside the chimneys and were exposed to soot that contained carcinogenic elements (Schuster 21). By preforming their “duty” as chimney sweeps, the boys had many reason to fear harm. The irony of “duty” in the last line of the poem can also be expanded to the failure of those that owed a duty to the child. The boy’s father failed to provide and care for him after the death of his mother and sold him to the chimney sweepers (Blake 520). One can also glean from the poem that the chimney sweep masters do not perform their duty to care for their wards and treat children poorly