William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper
William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” was mainly about the possibilities of both hope and faith. Although the poem’s connotation is that of a very dark and depressed nature, the religious imagery Blake uses indicates that the sweeps will have a brighter future in eternity.
In lines 4 – 8 when Blake writes, “There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved: so I said ‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.’ These lines symbolize faith in the biblical sense. Young Tom’s is like that of the sacrificial lamb of God and when the narrator tells Tom to stop crying because he knows that the soot can not longer spoil his white hair he, is saying to Tom, once he makes this sacrifice nothing else can hurt him. Blake is saying that if the children make the sacrifice of living out their lives here on Earth, no matter how dark and dismal their lives may seem at the time, they will be rewarded in heaven as long as they know the glory of God and trust in him.
It is in lines 10 – 24 that the poem becomes one of hope. For when Blake writes “As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins and set them all free;” Blake’s words ring true of hope for the sw...
Almost everyone has heard the legacy about this young, teenage World War II icon. Her story, her family, her personal life, and almost everything in her life; the reason for this was her diary. Her diary was published by her father, Otto Frank. Although some parts edited out, this diary had become well known as a hopeful yet horrifying time for the Jews. The way Anne Frank wrote about her life made all the horrors of the Holocaust real. She was about 13-years-old when she went into hiding with 7 other people in the place they hid called the Secret Annex. Later, they were found and had an inescapable fate with the concentration camp. The concentration camps were full of revolting conditions; over-packed bunks, starvation, disease, overworking of prisoners, torture, and the scent of death always in the air. There were approximately 6 million Jews killed in this terrifying massacre from all around the world. In these next few statements, I’ll tell you more about the Holocaust, Concentration camps, Anne Frank’s Story, and her legacy she left behind.
There are many stories, diaries and books from the time of The Holocaust but arguably the most famous of them all is the story of Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a teenage Jewish girl who went into hiding in her fathers offices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands when the Nazis called up her older sister, Margot (Anne ??). Just before the call up, Anne had started to write a “diary” which she continued to write when she went into hiding with her family. Throughout the book Anne writes that her worst nightmare is to be discovered (Anne ??). The Franks when into hiding in 1941 in the Annex of the Opekta offices and were arrested by the Nazis in ???. After such a long period of time in hiding there are many suspects for who betraye...
Anne Frank was my age, 15, when she was murdered by Nazis during World War II. I can’t even fathom what she must have gone through in the months before her death. Through her diary, one can understand the hardships of the Jewish people in Nazi Germany occupied countries
Anne Frank was a 13-year-old Jewish girl who was thrown into one of the worst periods in the history of the world; the Holocaust. Though she went through awful things that many people will never experience, she always kept the faith that there was still some good in everyone. She once said, “Despite everything I still believe people are truly good at heart.” Her diary, which she kept while her family was in hiding from the Nazis, shows the triumph of her spirit over the evil in the world even through the pain of adolescence. The Franks and Van Dans were hiding and they suffered many hardships, mentally and physically. Many people in Anne’s situation would have become bitter and resentful, but Anne never would despair.
From the early 1930s Jewish kids would be taunted and bullied, they wouldn’t be allowed to join certain groups or play certain games. Teachers would come to the school wearing swastikas and the Jewish teachers were fired. At the age of eleven Anne Frank had to leave her school because she was Jewish and her father had to quit his job. Anne Frank’s freedom was taken away from her when she went into the annexe but she had no choice it was to be safe or to be killed. She describes her memories and relationships in the books, but can you imagine not being able to go outside at the age of 13? Anne Frank’s family did what they had to do to keep their daughters safe even if it meant sacrificing
Today we look back at the holocaust as one of the most horrific acts commited by humans. One man's vision turned into a sorrow story of death for over 11 million innocent people. Everyone of those people were a son, a daughter, a wife, a husband, a mom, a dad of someone they truly loved. It is not physically possible to put the true emotion of this time period into words. We are obligated as members of society to never let an event like this occur again. High ranking members of the Nazi party were tried and convicted of the war crimes they commmited during this time. Anne's story is only one of 11 million people who had similar stories and ended in the same fate.
Three weeks before they were found Anne wrote in her diary: “Day and night during every waking hour, I do nothing but ask myself have you given him enough chance to be alone? Have you been spending too much time upstairs? Do you talk about serious subjects he’s not yet ready to talk about...?” (Frank 212) They were discovered after two years of hiding and were deported to concentration camps. Her father is the only one of the eight people to survive in the concentration camps. She is an inspiration to many people around the world to have gone through all that at such a young age. Through everything she went through she had kept a diary. Anne Frank had a crazy, but scary childhood, but a good family by her side every step of the way, she died at a young age, and kept a diary which was published into a book.
The Holocaust will forever remain one of the most horrific events in history and it is important to remember that there were many different endings for the many different Jews affected. It should not have mattered where the Jews lived, how old they were or the sex they were, none of them should have been persecuted in the first place. Reflecting on the tragic events of the war, all we can do is make sure that these horrific things never happen again.
William Blake's poem "The Chimney Sweeper" gives us a look into the unfortunate lives of 18th century London boys whose primary job was to clear chimneys of the soot that accumulated on its interior; boys that were named "climbing boys" or "chimney sweepers." Blake, a professional engraver, wrote this poem (aabb rhyme), in the voice of a young boy, an uneducated chimney sweeper. This speaker is obviously a persona, a fictitious character created by Blake, as it is apparent that he wasn't a child or a chimney sweeper at the time he wrote this poem.
Starting with the first stanza, Blake creates a dark and depressing tone. He uses words such as died, weep, soot, and cry to support this tone. In the first two lines the child shares his family with us, stating his mother’s death and the fact that his father sold him sharing that the child must come from a poor background “When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue”(Lines 1-2). The image of a poor child getting tossed into another unhappy place sets the tone for the beginning of this poem. Blake uses the word “weep”, instead of “sweep” in the first stanza to show the innocence of the child “Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep”(3). The fact that the child cried “weep” instead of sweep shows that the child could not be any older than four. Blake describes that they sleep in soot also meaning they are sleeping in their death bed. The average life span of children who work in chimneys is ten years due to the harsh work environment. The child portrays sorrow in the last line of the first stanza “So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”(4)
In June 1942 Anne received a diary for her 13th birthday. She began to write down her thoughts and experiences in the form of letters to an imaginary friend. One month later the Franks went into hiding in the office building. For the next two years the Frank family shared cramped quarters with four other Jewish people. In the ending the people she lived with were the ones that published her diary.
It is fascinating how far the world has transformed in the past 300 years. The world has evolved in the way labor is accomplished. The innovation of machines, abolishment of slavery and child labor laws have all played a part in this history. 300 years ago, slaves were the main force of labor because they were cheap. Economically, the next major force of labor was the children. Since children were smaller, they were able to do jobs that adults could not, such as sweep chimneys. This was a terrible job for children to be doing. William Blake writes about how miserable the kids were in two poems, “The Chimney Sweeper” (Songs of Innocence), and “The Chimney Sweeper” (Songs of Experience.) In both poems the kids were not happy with the situation they were in because of the harsh conditions. Child labor is extremely harmful to children, and Blake realized how dangerous it was. He criticizes the King, the Church, and the parents for their contribution to a child’s misery. It is evident that parents would force
William Blake's Songs of Innocence, “The Shepherd,” “The Echoing Green,” The Little Black Boy,” “The Blossom,” and “Laughing Song.”
In the poem, “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, the author attempts to educate the reader about the horrors experienced by young children who are forced into labor at an early age cleaning chimneys for the wealthy. The poem begins with a young boy who has lost his mother but has no time to properly grieve because his father has sold him into a life of filth and despair. The child weeps not only for the loss of his mother and his father’s betrayal, but also for the loss of his childhood and innocence. Blake uses poetry in an attempt to provoke outrage over the inhumane and dangerous practice of exploiting children and attempts to shine a light on the plight of the children by appealing to the reader’s conscience in order to free the children from their nightmare existence.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was a very distressing yet amazingly written book. Who would have thought that such a little person could have such a huge effect on the world? Anne?s father lived for many years after the war and made sure that Anne?s diary was published. Her diary was published in 1947 and was then made into a film. This diary helps people remember what Jews had to go through and hopefully reminds them of how lucky they are. By remembering, it is hoped that something like this will never happen again. This book was intriguing while incorporating many life lessons. Discrimination, unfair judgment, and racism are only a few of the many lessons that this book has to offer. With that, after reading this book, we have learned to not take the things we have for granted because in a matter of seconds, days, months, or even years, it could all be gone. As Anne said in her diary, ?In spite of everything, I still believe, people are truly good at heart?.