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Question:THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER
By William Blake
A little black thing among 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 made up a heaven of our misery'


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER
By William Blake
A little black thing among 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 made up a heaven of our misery'

William Blake was a British romantic writer. Being a romantic, he would have looked at nature as being the epitome of life. The boy, despite his young age, must work as a chimney sweeper, which was a filthy, dangerous job for the youth of the lower class. Because of their low class and poverty, they could not see why their son would find joy in life, especially amidst the cold, harsh world, felt there must be something wrong with the boy. They attempt to inform him of his lowly estate, and in so doing, basically break his joy. The last two lines is an irony between the parents' assumption of destiny in poverty and their religion, which states that they should be happy in their lowly position. They think they have given their son a reality check, but they are actually succeeding in breaking his spirit, which is where true happiness comes from. This means that the parents' happiness is false and contrived, rather than real and based on natural joy in little things, such as the snow, which is truly God-given.

'Weep! Weep!' <-- repeation.