It makes you really think about something and paints a picture in your mind. What is the theme of the poem ''The Chimney Sweeper''? “Songs of innocence” was published in 1789 and “Songs of experience” in 1794. An analysis of the most important parts of the poem The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence) by William Blake, written in an easy-to-understand format. The value of the lives of these children is nonexistent. 820-821). It is the companion to a poem of the same name that appears in the earlier Innocence collection, and works as a kind of update on the plight of the chimney sweeper—a young boy forced to do the horrible work of cleaning chimneys. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. The chimneys’ soot and ash turn the hair black, representing the corruption and loss of innocence at the hands of child labor.

"There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, Metonymy: Metonymy is a figure of speech that describes an object or person by comparing it to something else to which it is closely related. starTop subjects are Literature, History, and Social Sciences. What is the theme of William Blake's poem "The Chimney Sweeper?". All rights reserved. The chimneys’ soot and ash turn the hair black, representing the corruption and loss of innocence at the hands of child labor. Blake describes Tom’s hair, comparing it to a lamb, and describing how Tom’s innocence is lost when his hair is shaved. Find full texts with expert analysis in our extensive library. William Blake communicates “The Chimney Sweeper” in the form of a first person narrative. Describe the tone of "The Chimney Sweeper". The second stanza helps to highlight the level of innocence in the children to which these circumstances befall, while showcasing the literary elements of metonymy and similes. In the second stanza, "little Tom Dacre" is referred to as a "lamb." It looks as if the soot, being black, is the coffin that encompasses the thousands of sweepers and seems to be a primary cause of death. The Poem is narrated by an unidentified chimney sweeper who starts off telling the reader about how he got into the chimney sweeping business (orphan, child laborer, possibly homeless). Throughout the poem commercial values and human values clash. Owl Eyes is an improved reading and annotating experience for classrooms, book clubs, and literature lovers. Discuss the theme of exploitation in "The Chimney Sweeper"? and find homework help for other The Chimney Sweeper questions at eNotes Technical analysis of The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence) literary devices and the technique of William Blake | There are two ‘Chimney Sweeper’ poems by William Blake. The comparison between the curls in Tom Dacre’s hair to the back of a lamb in line six is made using the word like, which identifies the use of a simile. Thus the reader feels culpable for the misery that the speaker, and other children like him, endure when they are made to clean chimneys. In William Blake's poem, "The Chimney Sweeper," the metaphor "coffins of black" represents: A)... Why is Tom Dacre compared to a sheep in Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper". Don’t waste time! If you need help faster you can always use our custom writing service. “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake is one part of a collection of poems known as Songs of Innocence. The first stanza discusses the background of the narrator, a young sweep, regarding the cause or reason of such a deprived condition.
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