1. “The Chimney Sweeper” (1789)

2. Songs of Innocence Songs of Experience

3. “The Chimney Sweeper,” Songs of Innocence
Repetition: “’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!”
Alliteration: sweep/soot/sleep
his/head
soot/spoil
leaping/laughing
shine/sun
bags/brushes
Simile: …curled like a lamb’s back…
Symbolism:
…spoil your white hair (INNOCENCE)
And by came an Angel who had a bright key/And he opened the
coffins and set them all free. (ST. PETER WELCOMING THEM
TO HEAVEN, FREEING THEM FROM DESPAIR)
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, (HEAVEN)
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. (THEIR PURIFICATION)
Then naked and white, all their bags left behind. (THEIR RETURN
TO INNOCENCE)
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind; (THEIR HAPPINESS
IN HEAVEN)
Rhyme: young/tongue
weep/sleep
head/said
bare/hair
night/sight
Jack/black
key/free
run/sun
behind/wind
boy/joy
dark/work
warm/harm
Internal Rhyme: quiet/night
Metaphor: Were all them locked up in coffins in black.
Irony: So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

4. Blake’s Social Criticism: Industrial Revolution and Child Labor
[Fifty-one years after Blake’s poem was published, in] 1840, an act was [finally] passed that prohibited those less than 21 years of age to be forced or knowingly permitted to engage in chimney sweeping…. In 1864, a penalty was kept for the offenders. The Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875 ensured the registration of all chimney sweeps with the police along with an official supervision of their work. Gradually, alternative methods for sweeping chimneys came up which could save the lives of innocent children. (Gulati)
Gulati, Nitika. “William Blake’s ‘The Chimney Sweeper’: Text and Context.” Thirstt.com.
Thirstt, 3 Sept Web. 7 Apr