Q.

Identify, explain and comment on the following lines:

“And so, Tom awoke and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags and brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold,

Tom was happy and warm

So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.” (From 2015 Question Paper)

Ans. These lines have been taken from William Blake’s poem “The Chimney Sweeper”,

published in his collection “Songs Of Innocence” and refer to Tom Darce. This poem is based

in London of the 1700s, a period of Industrial Revolution characterized by rapid urbanization

and industrialization leading to corruption, poverty, unemployment, pollution, mass migration

and child labor. The poem touches upon the issue of child labor in that period, where young

children were forced to labor and fend for themselves from such a small age that they could

barely speak. This is evident from the lines “And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry "weep! weep! weep! weep!"(Blake).

The majority of children were forced to perform the dreadful task of chimney

sweeping. Generally speaking, the period of time between the Great Fire of London (1666)

and its abolition in 1875 was when child labor was most prevalent. Ironically, laws enacted in

the wake of the Great Fire made England's chimneys narrower, leaving children as the only

small enough individuals to clean them. The soot was toxic, and sweeps occasionally burned

themselves, were trapped.

of a young boy who had to work as a chimney sweeper to earn a living. The poem describes

the hardships and the exploitative nature of the job which these young boys had to do. At the

same time, the poem also elucidated a contrasting image of childhood, wherein children of

the same age as the speaker and Tom Darce, play in the fields, are free and enjoy their

childhood, instead of living a life full of turmoil and labor.

The lines in above question, highlight various experiences of the boys in the poem.

The dream which Darce gets, show’s how actual childhood should be like – playing in nature,

being happy and full of joy. This image depicts that children as young as the speaker and

Darce should actually be engaged with such positive activities instead of sweeping people’s

chimney to barely afford one square meal a day. The fact that Darce had such an image in his

dream also reflects the fact that somewhere deep down inside him, he actually knows what a

normal childhood is like, unlike his that just consists of barely being able to survive and

unhappiness.

"The Chimney Sweeper" appears to be a poem about liberation from an existence of

adversity. Youngsters who are compelled to labor in London's chimneys turn to religion in an

effort to find comfort in their suffering. They appear to believe that Christianity is from

where this hope originates. Each "good child" who behaves well and is obedient will be

repaid with "joy" and "God for his father" regardless of the pain in this life. The poem,

however, raises the question of whether this is indeed the case and speculates that it may

simply be a practical method of turning those boys into compliant young workers.

Tom's vision surely does give a fleeting glimmer of hope and redemption on the

surface, which is evident in the instance where he gets up happy and warm for a day full of

miserable work. He receives a visit from an angel who has a message from God. This angel
sets the dead youths free, allowing them to run around in the atmosphere before rising to

heaven. This portion of the dream looks plausible and is consistent with Blake's views on

what a child should be like: free, creative, and cheerful. The youngsters get to play and be

kids again up there in heaven where they "sport in the wind." Therefore, religion seems to

offer comfort in this life by promising happiness and liberty in the next.

Being a "good boy" is associated with this religious fulfilment, and so there are two

ways to read the poem's meaning. One could read the poem literally and conclude that doing

good works grants entry to heaven. However, the poem also suggests at the value of religion

in helping individuals accept the life's difficulties. Life has not given any chance to be good

when all they do and can do is sweep chimneys. Being good can include embracing this job

with a sense of responsibility and concentration that conceals is dreadfulness. In reality, the

poem seems to imply that the boys' acceptance of their sad circumstances is influenced by

their religious beliefs.

Thus, the poem ends with a sense of unsettling resolution, as if the angel's arrival

somewhere ends Tom's agony. The following morning, he and the speaker both get out of

bed, grab their equipment, and go to work, as if they are grown-ups going for a day packed

with work. In the line “If all do their duty, they need not fear harm” (Blake), there is a clear

indication of melancholy , as if Tom's vision and this hope were only momentary or even

wholly fake.

The poem's conclusion might also be interpreted as not providing enough closure. The

duration of the religious promise of salvation from the realities of sorrow and hardship is

unknown. Upon drawing comparisons with William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” in his

collection, “Songs Of Experience”, it becomes rather evident that the speaker and Darce have
been deceived to quite an extent by people with the sole objective of extracting as much work

as possible from the young boys.