Chimney Sweeper
During William Blake’s lifetime, chimney sweeps were a necessary element of English society. ... Only children were small enough to fit inside the chimney to clean them. Unfortunately, this was dangerous miserable work that led to an early death for most chimney sweeps. ... Many surely realized the need for the sweeps; Blake’s poem “The Chimney Sweeper,” forces them to consider the existence of the young boys used to satisfy this need. ... Blake establishes an ambiguous tone as a backdrop for religious symbolism and an unreliable narrator that forces the reader to see the plight of the chimney sweeps.