Blake expresses his poem in first person, as a young chimney sweeper. This gives his poetic voice creditability because the subject of the poem is chimney sweepers. In addition, using first person creates a deeper sense of sympathy in the reader. This young boy, the poetic voice, lost his mother while "[he] was very young" (554). Soon after the loss of his mother "[his] father sold [him] while yet [his] tongue/ Could scarcely cry ' 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'" (554). This sympathy allows the reader to realize n

ot only how these children lived, but also how they felt and how they were deprived of their childhood.

Blake also uses startling irony in this poem. This irony shocks the reader into realization of how terrible life is for these small boys. Some of the verbal irony Blake uses lies in the first stanza. The poetic voice claims that "[his] father sold [him] while yet [his] tongue/ Could scarcely cry ' 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'" (554). These words have a double meaning. They can mean that the speaker was not yet over mourning for his mother, or they can mean that he was so young that he was not yet able to sound out the s sound properly. In this case, he would stand on the corner and, instead of repeating the word sweep in an attempt at getting someone to hire him, he would repeat the word "'weep!'" (554). Another, more startling irony is that these young children hoped and lived for death because only in the after life could they become children. Blake emph

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ned Jack/, Chimney Sweeper, 'weep 'weep, terrible life, startling irony, poetic voice, 'weep' 554, symbolizes boys', sold tongue/ scarcely, 'weep 'weep 'weep, ' 'weep 'weep, tongue/ scarcely cry, scarcely cry ', sympathy reader, father sold, chimney sweepers, sold tongue/,
Approximate Word count = 650
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)