Orbler
Byron Twain
Brenton
Dexter
Jeanne Dininni
Shilpa KarhikWilliam Blake
April 24th 2006 10:21
William Blake is one of my favourite poets, so you can expect to see more of his poems here in future. His work (he was also a painter and printmaker and saw his work in this area as inseparable from his poetry) only gained public recognition after his death in 1827, but he has become one of England's best known and best loved poets.
Blake was a Unitarian and believed in equality of class, race and sex and a lot of his work reflects this, though often in Christian allegory. The following poem shows how strongly he was against child labour, which was very common in 18th century London.
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER
by William Blake
A little black thing in the snow,
Crying "weep! weep!" in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father and mother? Say!"--
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.
"Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smiled among the winter's snow,
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
"And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his priest and king,
Who make up a heaven of our misery."
Blake was a Unitarian and believed in equality of class, race and sex and a lot of his work reflects this, though often in Christian allegory. The following poem shows how strongly he was against child labour, which was very common in 18th century London.
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER
by William Blake
A little black thing in the snow,
Crying "weep! weep!" in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father and mother? Say!"--
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.
"Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smiled among the winter's snow,
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
"And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his priest and king,
Who make up a heaven of our misery."
| 52 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by AdamB
Adam
Comment by stephen
-Stephen
Comment by Loviatar
Comment by stephen
Michael Palmer, Sir Walter Scott (of course Shakespeare as well..)
You?