About the author:
William blake, the first important English romantic poet and printmaker, is one of the most important great poets in the history of English literature and a devout Christian. The main collections of poems are Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
William blake's masterpiece of English poetry "The Chimney Sweeper"
original text
Chimney sweeper
Chimney sweeper
A little black thing in the snow:
Cry, cry! Cry! In the sad notes!
Where are your parents? Say?
They all went to church to pray.
Because I'm happy in the wilderness,
Smile in the winter snow:
They dressed me in the clothes of death,
Teach me to sing sad notes.
Because I am happy, dancing, singing,
They think they didn't hurt me:
To praise God and his priests and kings,
They constitute our painful paradise.
-william blake
chimney sweeper
Translation/Ice Ink ying niang
A small figure covered in soil stood in the snow,
"Sweep the chimney! Sweep the chimney! " His crying is sad!
Tell me, where are your parents?
"They all went to church to pray to God."
"Because I like playing in the wild,
Smile in the heavy snow in winter,
They dressed me in mourning,
Teach me to sing a funeral song in a sad voice. "
"Because I sing and dance happily,
They think it's harmless to what I did,
So I went to praise the priest, the king and God—
These people used our pain to build a paradise. "
interpret
This poem is selected from william blake's Song of Experience. This little poem seems bright on the surface, but the implication is shocking. Reading this song, the first thing that catches the reader's eye is the word "small". "Small" often refers to a carefree, lively and lovely child, but it is immediately dissolved by the word "black" in the poem. Children who sweep chimneys climb into narrow chimneys, squeeze in and scrape coal ash with their hands, which is not only unkempt, but also easy to burn or even suffocate. At an early age, it is necessary to solicit business in the street, "cry! Cry! " The shrill cry is the note of falling in love in the snow. The child is playing in the wild, but his parents make him wear black clothes to sweep the chimney. The child groaned in the chimney, but his parents prayed devoutly in the church. This terrible scene strongly shocked the poet's mind. At the end of the poem, the poet pointed out: God not only failed to save the children sweeping the chimney, but also cooperated with the king and the priest to build a paradise on the suffering of countless children, thus expressing the poet's anger at social injustice.