The Chimney-Sweeper.pptVIP

William Blake 威廉·布莱克（William Blake 1757—1827），生于伦敦一个袜商之家，少年时家境贫寒，未有就学机会，十四岁开始当雕版学徒，后即靠雕刻版画为生。平生写诗甚多，其代表作有《天真之歌》（Songs of Innocence）和《经验之歌》（Songs of Experience）等。他的诗歌富有民主思想，揭露了当时英国社会的罪恶和不公正现象，表现了他对穷苦不幸者的深切同情。 Major Literary Works Songs of Innocence (1789): present a happy and innocent world, though with its evils and sufferings Songs of Experience (1794): present a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone The Chimney Sweeper Background 壁炉中燃烧的柴火会积生一层层的煤灰，容易堵住烟囱的通道，影响空气的进出流动，因此需要常常清理。可是壁炉的空间与烟囱的通道又是那么的狭窄，那清理扫除的工作由谁来做呢？身材细小的孩童便成了劳力的主要来源。于是，清晨时分，一个个背带着清扫工具袋的孩童，沿着大街小巷叫喊着「扫烟囱！扫烟囱！」大概是十八、十九世纪英国大城市熟悉的生活场景之一。 The background to these poems is one of the many social problems that existed in Blakes time—the use of young children as chimney sweeps. Children were often sold at the age of seven to work as chimney sweeps. They were badly treated, with never enough clothes, food or housing. They were placed in constant danger of suffocating or burning, and the soot caused cancer and other serious illnesses that resulted in painful and early deaths. Summary The Chimney Sweeper is the title of two poems by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794.In the earlier poem, a young chimney sweeper recounts a dream had by one of his fellows, in which an angel rescues the boys from coffins and takes them to a sunny meadow; in the later poem, an apparently adult speaker encounters a child chimney sweeper abandoned in the snow while his parents are at church. The poem is pictured by an engraving made by Blake himself. It shows the child walking along a street, it is a rainy day and he is alone. Furthermore, the boy is barefoot and dirty. With his right hand he is holding a brusher and is carring a dirty, big bag on his back. The rain is particularly dark. The final point is that the child is looking at the storm with what it seems a sad expression in his face. A little black thing among the snow 一个满身污垢的小小身影站