The Chimney Sweeper

William Blake is probably one of my favorite writers that we have read so far for this course. The poem, of his, that seemed to catch my attention the most would have to be the "Chimney Sweeper" on page 89 of our text. In this poem, he states, "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 make up a heaven of our misery" (89). This passage for the "Chimney Sweeper" is a really ironic one. The little boys seem to be happy that their child is able to work to make some money for them because they are probably poor. However, as they are giving praise for the fact that there child is able to provide a little income, they do not realize the affect of their child being around all of the hazardous material that is involved with sweeping chimneys. This reminds me of another time in histor when people where working in hazardous condition in order to have a little extra money to help their families have what they needed. This reminds me of the coal miners that worked in hazardous conditions for a long time up until around the middle of the 20th century. Like the little child in Blake's poem, these people had work and were happy for it, yet they did not realize the effects that working in the conditions that they worked in would cause such damages to their health. I think that these two examples show the extreme lengths that people will go through in order to try to provide for the ones that they love. I believe that Blake was trying to point out the hazards and damages that were being caused from the Industrial Revolution. The poor were taken in advantage of in so many ways that they seemed to be treated worse than people who commit crimes in the present day.