Chimney sweeper By William Blake

TEXT

when my mother died very young 

And my father sold me While yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry weep weep weep

So Your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep

There's the little Tom Darci, who cried when his head

That curled like a lambs 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

And so he was quite & that very night,

As tom was sleeping he had such a sight!

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned &jack

Were all of them Locked up in coffins of black

And by came an angel told Tom, If had be a good boy,

He`d have god for his father &never want Joy

And so Tom Awoke And we rose in the dark

And got with our bags and our brushes to work

Though the morning was cold Tom was Happy and warm

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

background of chimney sweep

Chimney sweeper is set in london of 17th centuary status of children driven by poverty who were subjected to hazardous work called chimney sweeper. In those days  chimney accumulated lot of soot and will be a  cause for diseases if not cleaned for this purpose of cleaning act, only 6 to 7 year old children of small and tender age were selected, since poor unearned parents would meet demand of small.children who in those days sold their wards to rich people the rich would keep.

This sweeps to work for weeks and days no matter what hardship they go through left unknown, as  rest of world is lost in their chores, and sweeps left to their fate.

Tom Darce is such a boy whim sees a nightmare of fate of such labor boys who find comfort and solace after deathlier the angel who appears in his dream consoles all the children who suffered from hardships of child labor would have a better life in rebirth

 the poet William Blake critiques unjust system of organized religion which promise false sense of glory to those suffering poverty and oppression and exploitation.

The poem appears to be set on a winter's day. It has been snowing, which makes the boy's sooty appearance stand out starkly against the pure white backdrop. After that, though, the poem doesn't develop its setting much—nor does it need to. The setting is mainly used just to set up the encounter with the sweep, and from line 4 he takes over to tell his tale of misery and oppression.
characterized by poverty and pollution. The fact that the poem is about a chimney sweep, a common profession for children at this time, contributes to this sense of the setting. Additionally, the mention of a King could possibly refer to King George III, who was the British monarch at the time the poem was written and first published.
The large houses created by the wealth of trade had horizontal flues heating huge rooms that could be cleaned only by a small child crawling through them. These flues literally became black coffins, which killed many little boys. A sweeper’s daily task was courting death because of the hazards of suffocation and burns.


The Angel opened the coffins containing the bodies and set all the bodies free from the bondage of coffins. The freed little sweepers of the chimney ran down a green ground, washed in the water of a river, and dried themselves in the sunlight to give out a clean shine.  This was really a very delightful moment for these chimney-sweepers, who got freed from the shackles of bondage labor, exploitation, and child labor.


The image of clouds floating freely is Blake’s metaphor for the freedom from the material boundaries of the body and an important visual symbol. The Angel told Tom that if he would be a good boy he would have God for his father and there would never be a lack of happiness for him.
Blake symbolizes the religeon as means of oppressions not salvation.
There are thousands of boys who work as a sweep and hazardous work with diseases and pain some succumb to die
Hence their relief has come after death wen they try to put hardship.
The ironical description is boyhood been robbed by parents and society that of tim darce who at very tender age of six is kept for chimney sweep job who for little more than a meal and place to sleep accepted to do hazardous job.
Its amazing that amount of work these tender hands are doing, and the intense hours even the religeon is taken on critical note by poet when there s a need of god the  children aren't saved by him but he sends messenger to keep faith and hope in him so as they could have better life the next birth.
The religion is here is confined to harsh truths ironically it will not guarantee us in any way you could be taken care of but there is an assurance from almighty if faith os kept they might have better life in next birth.


Question
Describe the irony in the poem chimney sweeper
The starting  lines of poem tells about pathetic truth, a boy whos sold by the father for profession of chimney sweep.
Lest these low age boys will work for door to door keeping chimneys clean as almost everyone need them in England there is hearth or fire place elongated chimneys to emulate smoke outside thus, making chimneys dark soot occurring unremovable creosotes which causes diseases
So they  had to be cleaned then the these tiny boys below or above 6 are chosen to bail out cleaning then there are thousands of chimney sweeps who for matter of meal and resting place, agree such contract.
Tom darce is such a boy who subsisted, hours and hours of cleaning hazardious work for his food and sleep at soot.
One day he got nightmare, that an angel who went to graveyard of dead boys who were unfortunately died of this sweep profession, who were locked in coffins
There the angel had opened coffins to get free the souls, hence irony the blackened bodies escaped from the grave yard, reached river front washed themselves and go round about all places as just childhood gleams appeared, and reached heavens.
The pity of toms dream can only persist tge meaning of god or religion is reciprocal to pathetic life of those boys.
As tom could revere the words of  angel that god could make his life better for next birth.
This exposition in conclusion of poem is ironic only showcase religion as not the remedy for trouble of those labor children but only promises good life of liberty equality after rebirth.