Social problems have often been the subject of poetry and prose from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Several writers have successfully used their literary talents to bring attention to living conditions, working conditions, or simply the condition of the human spirit. Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is a satirical look at the plight of homeless children in Ireland. Another author who used his abilities to expose corruption and social injustice is Upton Sinclair, who wrote The Jungle. This novel describes the wretched sanitary and working conditions in the Chicago meat-packing industry. Yet another author who has left behind works which have brought attention to the human condition is William Blake; specifically in "The Chimney Sweeper".

In his poem, "The Chimney Sweeper," Blake describes the life of a young boy who has been sold into hard labor. This young boy is a representative of thousands of children, mostly boys, who worked as chimney sweepers in the late 18th century, many of whom were only four and five years of age. A sweeper's job was to crawl inside chimneys and clean the flues by sweeping black soot into bags. Parents sometimes sold their sons to master sweepers who often mistreated and abused them. Death and disease were common among these children, as well as physical deformity.

The main character in Blake's poem tells us he how he was sold into child labor.

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 & in soot I sleep. (1-4)

A friend of the speaker has a dream. It is the elements of this dream which make up most of the poem. A small boy, Tom, has cried himself to sleep after his head has been shaved. Shaving the sweepers' heads was necessary in order to keep them free of soot and of lice. The main character tells Tom, "for when your head's bare, / You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair" (7-8).

In his dream, Tom sees all of his adolescent co-workers locked in black coffins. This represents the premature deaths of the child laborers and their burials in coffins covered in chimney soot. The symbolism can also be of something less morbid. The coffins of black are representations of the cramped, dark, and sooty surroundings of the chimney flues.

Tom's dream expresses his desire for freedom from the hard and probably short life. This is described in his vision of an angel.

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. (13-16)

This is a clear representation of the boy's desire to be clean and free. To be rescued by an angel would be the necessary means to the end. The reality is that most chimney sweepers died very young and never had much of an opportunity for leaping, laughing, or running in the Sun.

The only feasible rescue for these young boys is death. For in death, they will have attained peace.

And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy. (19-20)

Tom does awaken after this dream, and his life goes drearily on. He will, however, find peace and never lack joy if he holds on and does his duty for a bit longer. Tom feels peace in the knowledge that there would be an end to this existence, but it is sad that this end will come too soon.

In his poem, William Blake has illustrated the struggles and despair of the children who were forced into labor before laws were written to protect them. Blake's use of a young boy to tell the story is genius, because this gives the tale an innocence and naivete that is necessary in describing what is actually a dark and grisly reality.

In using dramatic irony, Blake is able to suggest a purpose without actually staing it. he has touched the emotions of his readers by allowing them to hear from a child's point of view a situation that the average adult will know to be tragic.

Upton Sinclair wrote on the condition of adult laborers. Jonathan Swift dealt with homeless children. William Blake handled the plight of child labor. Whether in prose or in poetry and whether told by an adult or a child, these are serious and somber subjects with which to publish works to be remembered by. Whether or not these authors intended to take a stand is secondary. These particular literary achievements received deserved attention and lasting respect. Although it is a fact that stories such as Sinclair's The Jungle helped to create laws to protect laborers, it may never be known the full extent of reformations that these works have made in history.