In William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper, we see the lost of innocence and sufferings. All the young children in Blake’s poem are suffering and in pain because they have to sweep chimneys for a living. These children do not live life happily and carefree, like most children in our society do. They don’t have parents to support and love them, and have to learn to fend for themselves at a young age. The only joy and brightness that these children receive are during their sleep when they are able to dream of a happier place. One of the children, Tom’s dream can be perceived as: the only hope of a happy life for these children are their deaths. In Tom’s dream, all the children are locked in black coffins, and are saved after an angel comes with a key to unlock them. Tom’s dream foreshadows that these children will suffer in life but be free after death because they’ll be sent to heaven.
Although we don’t usually see the scenes in Blake’s poem in our country, it does not mean that it no longer exists. Nowadays, children are given more care and protected, but the sufferings of children in Blake’s poem still exist in many third world countries. Especially in Africa, young children are forced to work in very dangerous environments in order to survive and to keep their families alive. After reading Blake’s poem, I realize how sad it is that the adolescents in our society complain about going to school and dropping out because they believe that it is to difficult and stressful. The children in society take advantage of the free education and opportunities that we have. The children in Blake’s poem would have killed to be given the opportunity to receive a free education instead of spending their life sweeping chimneys and fearing death.
– Amy Wang
The children in the poem are very brave and positive! They still remain a grateful heart although they’re going through many sufferings. This poem is also very encouraging, because it makes readers feel that the children’s sufferings are much greater than ours, yet they still hang on, so there’s no reason we should give up dreaming in life easily.