Comparison of Two Versions of "The Chimney Sweeper" By William Blake

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Comparison of Two Versions of "The Chimney Sweeper" By William Blake

William Blake was a famous poet and illustrator in the 17th century. When William wrote these poems, the social culture of Britain was terrible. Young children in the lower society were being sold on the streets for various jobs. Most were 3 to 5 year olds being sold to clean chimneys.

Many families in the lower class part of Britain were so poor that they would sell their children so that they could support family members.

In the first poem that William Blake wrote (in 1789) he starts off by trying to make the reader feel sorry and sympathetic for the children. Further on in the first verse William tries to make the reader feel more sympathy for the children, he also tries to shock the reader by making us realise how young the children were.

"...And my father sold me while yet my tongue,

Could scarcely cry weep! Weep! Weep!"

William Blake could not make his points too clear because only the upper class of the English society could read his poems. He hides a message in the next line of his poem.

"So your chimney I sweep, and in soot I sleep."

By putting 'your' in the line it is sending a subtle message to the reader. He was placing the blame on the readers, who would mainly be the rich and upper class of Britain. Therefore it would be their fault for little children, sleeping in soot and risking their lives to clean their chimneys.

In the next verse William sends a great message to the reader that these children that they buy are real people. They are not just children who they can use to clean their chimneys.

"There little Tom Dacre, who cried..."

Just by giving the little boy a name he has made a great impact to the poem already and made it believable detail.
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When your read on, William mentions something very effective.

"That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved..."

When William Blake mentioned a lamb, the reader would have pictured a little, innocent lamb. He is insinuating that the child is so innocent and pure, but is being sacrificed as well.

In the final lines of the verse, William puts in a great piece of poetry.

"Hush, Tom! Never mind it, for when your heads bare

you know that the soot can not spoil your white hair."

William is showing that young children are ...

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