The Chimney Sweeper Analysis

The poem The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake is poem that shows the life of a lower class
man and his life working as a chimney sweeper. This person has suffered a terrible life and works a
horrible job. The poem The Chimney sweeper is a poem that showing the true side of society and how it
needs to change and how the working conditions of the lower class is truly god awful.
One of the major points the William Blake was trying to make with his poem The Chimney
Sweeper, is that the conditions these lower class workers have to work in atrocious and alarming. These
people are working in conditions that no human being should ever be working in yet these people day in
and day out, work there asses off in this horrible job just to get some money to provide for their family.
A very powerful part of the poem is when Blake says “so your chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep (4)”
showing that this man has no home, and there in no care for these workers. They don’t care if these
people are doing it for measly pay and don’t give a shit about if the person is going contract a lung
infections from the awful work environments. “Were all of them locked up in coffins of black (12)” this
line shows the very nature of how awful their work was. They are covered in toxic soot that they are
constantly working in and there is almost no pay going to them. They are killing themselves by working
these long, harsh hours and working in a toxic environment.
The separation of classes is an issue that William Blake tries to show through his poem The
Chimney Sweeper. Men, women, and children have to work hours and hours for no pay just to survive in
the lower classes while the higher classes live in luxury and are not struggling to survive the night. This
poem was written in 1793, which examples why William Blake wanted people to care more about the
lower class. See, these people didn’t want to deal with their problems because they don’t want to deal
with it in general and they also find it to depressing and turn a blind eye on the problem in its entirety.
William vividly describes the harshness of their lives “my father sold me (2)” showing the disparity of the
lower class. Children of that time had to work long hours just so the family could barely get the
essentials like bread to eat. Blake is pleading to the people of England telling them not to turn the other
cheek and do something good for these people. Help them feed their families, provide jobs for them, do
something that will make the lives of these people that much better. Blake is disgruntled by how much
the people take the lower class for granted. These brave souls are desperate and will do anything to
provide the essentials for their family, and they will do it for little pay. Blake is also revealing the huge
gap in society from the upper to lower classes. There is almost no in between just two classes. He is
showing at there shouldn’t be such a huge difference, and that these people deserve to have a much
better living conditions and working conditions. None of these people did anything work, then why do
they have to suffer like animals? Society as a whole needs to change in the eyes of William Blake. Blake
is crying out that society needs to be more equal and fair to the lower class. They to provide more help
to the lower class and not let the die off as some sort of common infection. These are people who are in
slums of the world and need help to get out. People are not doing anything to help out with cause and
Blake is furious by this. Blake is saying that society is a evil, uncaring being that doesn’t give a rats ass if
you are in the puddle of shit begging for money.
As I have said above that William Blake was trying to show that society needs to change and
help the lower class and that working conditions for the average person needs to change immediately.
Life should not be that difficult for any human being and that is what Blake was trying to show through
his poem. Only time will tell if we will stop the horrible treatment of the lower classes.