The Chimney Sweeper

The photo below shows, a couple of young boys who seem to have been suffering. I say this because they all look untamed, and very sad. When children look like this often it shows a sign of neglect from parents. “That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.” The children in the picture may not be locked up in coffins literally, however they are metaphorically. I say this because it seems as if the children are not living for themselves, but instead for the benefits of others. The children in the photo below do not seems happy as many children would usually seem in their photos.

The child speaks of how his father sold him to an employer to work most likely in a factory, although he doesn’t say that exact. Context clues will tell one that that is what he meant when he said: “So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.” He names a few more young boys who are also sweepers Tom, Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack. Tom goes to sleep and dreams that an angel sets free all the sweeps, and they would enjoy the rest of their childhood. The angel tells Tom that if he is a good boy God will love him and he will never want joy. I believe that the dream helped lighten the days of the sweepers listed above, because they believed that they were no longer alone.