The poem
A little black thing among the snow: Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! Where are thy father & mother? say? They are both gone up to the church to pray.
Because I was happy upon the heath. And smil'd among the winters snow: They clothed me in the clothes of death. And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
And because I am happy. & dance & sing. They think they have done me no injury: And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, Who made up a heaven of our misery.
I think it's a kind of social reflection which happen at the time William Blake wrote the poem. He tries to critisize society for having a kind of children exploitation. hope it won't happen in our life.
God Save us !
This was a brillient book i must say appsolutly amazing, oh i'm sorry it's a poem, London's LBC 97.3 is also great.Clive Ball. hehehe
There are actually two versions of this poem, both written by Blake. The first was longer, and the satire was better covered, so if someone read it and didn't look carefully, they may mistake it for a happy poem. I guess Blake figured out people were stupid and made the second a little more blunt to really drive the point home.
"They were both gone up to the church to pray."
I love how this last line seems intentionally ambiguous. Anyone have any interpretations they'd like to share?
Blake shows himself to be a social critic in this poem. He critisises the Church and the monarchy for not doing anything about the social and economic injustices after the Industrial Revolution, and he also critises the people of London who simply accepted the bleak way of life after the Revolution.
Blake wrote this accusing parents, church and society of neglicting the children.
The child says, "Because I was happy upon the heath." He was happy but now he's not, maybe he lost his parents who were brought to the church. He thinks that they went to pray and he has been waiting them for long.
It is clear that children at that time were exploited and a chimeny sweeper is a vivid example shows us how tough and dirty is this kind of job. Unfortunatelly we have in our society exploitation and child abuse. We are not too different from the past.
The poem reveals its pessimistic attitude towards the chimney sweep business by calling the sweeper "little black thing". It also has religious symbols and ideas which is something it has in common to the poem in the Song from Innocence.
Most importantly is the fact that the narrator has an ill outlook of the afterlife. Revealing the experienced view of the poem.
i think the poem is the mirror of the social life of
lower classes .but i think we should pay more attention to the lower classes of the nowadays ,so that the tragdy will not happen again. if someone want to make friends with me ,please send me e-mails .i will be very glad,especially Gremans,since i am learning Deutsch
Critical analysis blake
This particular conventional poem reflects the mayhem prevailing in Blake's contemporary epoch. The High-class would exploit the low-class people and refuse to accept them as complete part of society. The metaphor of the chimney-sweeper is used to embody all the low-class people deprived of status, identity and respect and thus living in a heinous state similar to the medieval ages; they are treated no better than…
Read the whole commentThis particular conventional poem reflects the mayhem prevailing in Blake's contemporary epoch. The High-class would exploit the low-class people and refuse to accept them as complete part of society.
The metaphor of the chimney-sweeper is used to embody all the low-class people deprived of status, identity and respect and thus living in a heinous state similar to the medieval ages; they are treated no better than slaves.
The second prominent theme is Blake's criticism of religion. He shows how religion is being manipulated by the people. when he talks about the "church" here he addresses not God but those men who pretend to hold monopoly in religion and make of it a personal and commercial affair which allow them to obtain power.
The poem's simplicity is typical of Blake's style and it manages to convey deeper emotion due to its direct approach and the touching plea of the child.
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