Chimney sweeping was dangerous and brutal. Especially for the young children that were forced to work in this trade. They were often orphans or sold into apprenticeships due to the hardships of their parents not being able to afford them. They were as young as 6 years old and included both boys and girls. In this illustration by George Cruikshank, he's depicting an actual event of a two boys who died in the flue of a chimney in December of 1824. One boy suffocated and another was sent to tie a rope to his leg to help retrieve him. This second boy perished as well and the bodies of the two boys had to be retrieved by breaking through the wall. As we know from our readings, William Blake wrote two poems depicting these young children as chimney sweepers in both his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience collections. At the time these poems were written, chimney sweeps were mostly comprised of child laborers who had an extremely difficult life and were unprotected in British society.
Work Cited:
Iverson, Karla, "The Poor Life of the Apprentice Chimney Sweep-The History of Children at Work," Owlcation, November 16, 2016, https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-History-of-Children-at-Work-The-Po…