Poetry Review: “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake

In the literary writing “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, I assume that the reader could pick out a number of themes that the author placed in the poem. All through the poem Mr. Blake utilizes the tone, speaker, and diction to create and assistance that theme. The theme I was able to derive was the child’s lack of innocence. Generally we see kids as very innocent beings and are sincere about their feelings and actions.

The kids in this poem have had no childhood. They are forced to wake up prior to the sun comes up and clean and sweep the chimneys. The youngsters have been functioning at such a young age that they didn’t have a likelihood to be young children and play like other youngsters. That alone states that their innocence has been taken from them. They are essential to live a “black” life, covered in soot and are susceptible to a young death and quick life. They run, jump, and play only in their dreams. That sets the theme as lack of innocence.

The tone in Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” has an irony that masks his revolutionary commitment. For instance, in one particular component of this poem, there is an animated tone as the dream of the boy is described and the lines lightly rhyme,

“And by came an angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins and set them all cost-free

Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run,

And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.”(13-16)

The speaker of this poem is a young boy who was enslaved into the chimney-sweeping company when his mother died. His father sold him “while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry” (two, three). He tells the story of one more chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, who cried when his hair was shaved to avert soot from discoloring it.

The diction of this poem has straightforward, childlike diction. This is simply because of the child’s narration of the poem. In Blake’s writing, God is referred to in terms of praise, as a child is taught to think that God will forever be his father. The narrator in the poem seems happy and calm. He is oblivious to the truth that they reside as slaves and are doomed to die young ahead of their time. The adolescent diction of the poem is a item of the innocence of the speakers.

In conclusion, we have discussed a excellent poem by William Blake. Unfortunately, at the time this was written there was a lot of slavery and youngster laborers. Blake did a fantastic job of making use of the tone, speaker, and diction to set the theme.