In this poem, William Blake describes the life and the great suffering of poor children. During this time period, children often had to work in order to survive. This was the case with poor children and orphans. It was a sad and very difficult existence.
In the poem, Blake reflects on such a life by showing how tragic and difficult it could be. It is clear that Blake feels sorry for these children, and that he believes this to be a life of suffering and sorrow. He talks about the pain of being an orphan when he says "When my mother died I was very young,/And my father sold me while yet my tongue/Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"" Blake also highlights the innocence of children who face this type of life when he says "There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head/That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,/"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,/You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."" Finally, Blake describes the very difficult conditions that the children faced, which add to the tragic tone of the poem ("So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.").
Answer:
Blake was anti child labor
Explanation:
Having going through hard times himself, child labor is something he completely despise. Most of Blake's friends died during child labor. "thousands of sweepers, Joe, Ned, and Jack,Were all of them locked up in coffins of black".
