Beginning of Essay
William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper,” written in 1789, tells the story of what happened to many young boys during this time period. Often, boys as young as four and five were sold for the soul purpose of cleaning chimneys because of their small ....

Middle of Essay
.... to realize not only how these children lived, but also how they felt and how they were deprived of their childhood. Blake also uses symbolism to express the evils of exploiting these small boys. Most of this symbolism appears to be about death. This gives the poem a dark mood. For example, Blake writes “So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep” (554). Most of the boys who were sold into chimney sweeping died very young because the soot inhalation destroyed their lungs. In this quote sleeping in soot symbolizes dying in soot, or from the soot. Blake also symbolizes these boys’ fate with the lines “That thousands of swee ....