Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a crucial point in the history of the world, and also a very difficult time to endure, especially for the working class. In the late eighteenth century, a young poet and artist by the name of William Blake became outraged and inspired by the inhumane treatment of young boys called “chimney sweeps.” Thus he produced a protest in the form of simple poetry. Wicksteed says, “Deeper knowledge of Blake will reveal no darkly buried meaning, only a deeper sense in the meaning obvious to all.” (Hirsch, 7) This is precisely the case in the protest Blake calls “The Chimney Sweeper.” Blake utilizes realism, rather than deep symbolism, in the form of imagery to portray the brutality of the Industrial Revolution.

When Blake was inspired to write about these boys, their barbaric lives were not only common knowledge, but accepted. Throughout the passing years, however, history has lost sight of the horror they faced everyday. Therefore, familiarity with such details does help the reader to see more clearly Blake’s indictment of a society that allows children to be subjected to almost unbelievable wretched conditions, and it also gives more force and point to the realism and imagery. (Nurmi, 15) History reveals that children usually began these lives at the age of 6 or 7 or even earlier. The job tormented their small bodies, leaving them to die with deformed ankles, twisted kneecaps and spines, or with “chimney sweeps cancer.” The boys began their days long before sunrise until about noon when they “cried the streets” for more business. When it was time to return these young boys carried heavy bags of soot to the cellars and attics where they slept. Even the task of sleeping was torture. The boys owned nothing and were given nothing, leaving them with only the bags of soot that had swept for a bed.

Though the life was hard, it did not hold a candle to the actual duty of their job. Some chimneys were as small as seven inches in diameter, forcing the children to go up them naked. After all, clothes took up needed room and cost money to replace. Also bare skin, though it would bruise and scratch, did not catch on the rough plaster inside. This harshness on their bodies gave the boys such a dirty reputation that they were seen as subhuman creatures. Churches even turned the boys away and forbid them to enter the sanctuary.

Knowing this, it is not hard to see where Blake was coming from. That fact is that little Tom Dacre’s life, as seen by Blake, was far more accurate than symbolic. For instance, the first stanza explains why the narrator spends his life in misery. His mothers death and disgust in the fact that his father sold him into the workforce like a piece of merchandise, is emphasized more than the fact that he was very young. (Hirsch, 185) This is the first sign of Blake’s fury at a society that would put a child into a situation of this magnitude. It also is the first glimpse of Blake’s amazement at children that have somehow learned to preserve their humanity in circumstances that are all but completely dehumanizing. (Nurmi, 15) This gives the reader an obvious sense of anger toward society.

In the same stanza Blake moves from anger to pity for the child. Blake uses the words “weep, weep,” from a child obviously too young to correctly pronounce the word “sweep.” (William Blake, 261) Previous information has provided a clear knowledge that in lines three and four, Blake was not speaking symbolically or metaphorically, but with blatant realism.

In the second stanza, Blake familiarizes the reader with not only a character named Tom, but also his agony. Although Tom’s haircut is a ritual one, he cried because it has become an everyday reminder of the repulsive black creature he has become. (Nurmi, 17) The narrator then attempts to comfort Tom by feeding him the straightforward fact that he is indeed lucky to have his head shaved. Blake portrays this young boy to then be mature enough to accept that his hair will never be the clean and white bundle of curls it once was. It is unclear why Tom is lucky to have his head shaved, but Tom is reassured and then moves on. (Hirsch, 184)

The third stanza is when Blake really begins to delve into his use of imagery with his description