Part 1 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 size. These children were exploited and lived a meager exist ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... This sympathy allows the reader 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 th ....