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Yankee · Accepted Answer

Hi Daden

This looks like a homework assignment. So you need to give it a try yourself. Tell me what you do understand about the poem.

You might start by answering some of these questions about Tom:

- Is Tom an adult or a child?
- Does Tom have a job? If so, what does he do?
- What happened to Tom's hair?
- What does Tom dream about?

Daden1789 · Answer

1. Here and bad situation in London at this time USe text from story to support it.

2. Show how the poem is ironical. Explain that this poem should be looked at in term of sarcasm.

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry ‘ 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!’
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curl'd like a lamb’s back, was shav'd: so I said
‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.’

And so he was quiet, and that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!—
That thousands of sweepers, , Joe, Ned, and Jack,
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run
And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind;
And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy,
He’d have *** for his father, & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm

Daden1789 · Answer

what is the irony in the selection the Chimney SWeeper

Daden1789 · Answer

i know that it is a child talking. HE is born in the 18 century london. He mother dies and his father sold
him to child labor at a young age. He does not like the job. HE dreams that he died and *** took him away from the job.
HE would be happy because he donot have to do the job again.
that all i understand.
what is the irony in this?

what does this have to do with 18 century london.
i know in the 18 century
it was very common for parents to sell their children because they cannot afford to feed them.

I doesnot understand what the story is complain about and I cannot find any thing from the story to support it.

Lastly, I doesnot know where the story use sarcasm.

Yankee · Answer

Hi Daden

OK, that's a good start.

I think the poem is critical of the exploitation of very young children to do the dangerous work of cleaning chimneys.

Tom is apparently a very young child who was sold by his father, and Tom is working as a chimney sweep. Tom was in essence sold into slavery to do a job that was full of risk and danger. And it was also probably frightening work to do. Because Tom was a very young child, his small size made him valuable as a chimney sweep.

I don't know all of the history of chimney sweeps, but I do know that up until about the mid 1800s, children even younger than 8 or 10 were commonly used to clean chimneys in London. Doing this sort of work was no doubt frightening to most of those children. It probably meant that these children were constantly dirty (covered in black soot), and there were probably many deaths. This is might be why Tom dreamed about coffins, and maybe Tom equated being in a chimney with being in a coffin. So he dreamed of being rescued from or escaping from his terrible life and his terrible work. He dreamed of being clean and also of being set free.

How do you think Tom could escape his terrible life?

Daden1789 · Answer

death
he dreams that *** came and resume him from the job
he was happy because he did not have to do the job anymore

what is so irony about the last stanza

Daden1789 · Answer

delete

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Daden:
Please read our conversations again. There are many things in your answer that are not right.
The narrator himself did not have the dream about dying. The poem does not say that the narrator wanted to die. The narrator did not say in the poem that he was unhappy. (He probably was, but he did not say so) The narrator talks about someone else's dream and how someone else was feeling, and his relationship with that person. It is in most of the stanzas of the poem, so you should say something about this.
Most of the things that you say in your answers are not from the poem, but from somewhere else. The poem does not talk about parish houses or work houses. It does not say chimneys were too small. You should tell in your answer where these facts come from.

You should make the connection between the poem and your answers. You can do this by quoting lines from the poem.
I think that you understood all the lines in the poem, so it should not be very hard.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Just a quick note that I have joined together the half-dozen or so posts made about this one poem by the same poster into one thread. Some posts may appear to be a bit out of order when merged together.

Daden: Please post a question once. If you have additional quesitons, reply to the thread that already exists, rather than starting a new thread. Thank you.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Thanks for the help GG.

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