Today I will analyse the poem 'The Chimney Sweeper' by William Blake through Marxist perspective.I will select five points of Marxism and i will analyse the poem using this points.
So first have a look on the poem.
The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
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."
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-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 who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd 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 & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
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| CHIMNEY SWEEPER |
Below are the five points which I will use to analyse the poem.
1: Capitalists exploit the working class by taking a huge amount of profit without any hard work.
2: Increase in use of child labor for making more profit as they were paid less.
3: The society is divided into two different classes Capitalists and proletariat.
4:The concept of family is used to pass on the property and money to the coming generation.
5: Capitalists force their ideologies on the working classes.
This are the five points which we will us to analyse the poem so let's begin
without wasting any time.
In the poem the speaker says that he was very young when he lost his mother
when he was sold by his father when he was still a child. This shows that how
capitalists were ruling and the working classes were exploited. Because of which
the poor people had to sell their own children for a small amount of money.
The capitalist were in search of small boys can work for them in low wages
which would give them more profits may be this was the one reason that they
bought children from poor people to work for them.The small children were
suitable for cleaning the chimney and the work is done properly. In the poem it
can be seen that the small children were mainly doing the work of cleaning the
chimney.
The society is divided into two different parts which can be clearly seen in the
poem one is the working class (poor people) who are selling their children for
fulfilling their daily needs. The other class which is the capitalists class is buying
the same children for labor work. They want to make more profit so they are
buying children as they don't have to pay them much.
The concept of family is also very important which is not directly related to the
poem but we can see it in the poem. Because of the family concept the rich people
(Capitalists) give away their all money and property to their children who have not
done any hard work to get that money but still they are getting it whereas he
working classes are left on their little wages although they are working hard. So in
the poem the poor people's children are again doing the same labor work and the
rich people's children are getting money without any hard work.
Forcing the ideologies on the working class. In the poem the little boy Tom has a
dream in which he sees himself first locked in the coffin and then set free by the
angel and then he was free. Then the angel tells him if he his good than he will
have God for father. This shows the angel as capitalists who is forcing her ideas
on the little Tom who belongs to the working class who is influenced by her words
and continues to work for the capitalists. Similarly the capitalists also
influence the working class people who are forced to work for them, in view to
their ideologies,
So this was the analysis of the poem 'Chimney Sweeper' by William Blake
through Marxist perspective.
