This document presents a cultural studies paper analyzing William Blake's poem "The Chimney Sweeper" through the lens of cultural materialism. It discusses how the poem critiques the cruel exploitation of innocent children made to work as chimney sweeps during the industrial revolution. Blake criticized the church's view that suffering in life leads to reward after death, as the grim realities of the sweepers' lives were damaging. The poem represents the hard realities of life during an era of prosperity where children were forced into labor, reflecting Marxist concepts of cultural materialism.

1.  Presented by Alpa Ponda
 Paper no : 8
 Cultural Studies
 Submitted to :smt. S B Gardi department
of English
 Sem : 2
 Batch year : 2016- 2018

2. Cultural Materialism
in Blake’s poem

3. Is Literature covering the reality
of life in its saying……??

4. William Blake
 Born 28 Nov 1757
 Poet and Painter

5. The Chimney Sweeper
*Innocent victims of the
cruellest exploitation
 Associated with the
smoke of
industrialization
 Childhood and the
industrial revolution

6.  The grim realities of
the sweepers’ lives
and the ecstatic vision
of liberty contained in
the dream of Tom
Dacre….

7. Criticising the Church’s view
 Church says that
through work and
hardship, reward inn
the next life would be
attained.
 Church’s teaching of
suffering and
hardship in life in
order to attain heaven
are damaging.

9. Cultural Materialism
 The Materialism we can find in Blake’s
poem as it was an era of prosperity. The
children were appointed as worker. It
represtents the hard reality of life. Here
the Marxist concept come.

10. This practise was not abolished until 1875,
nearly 50 years after Blake’s death.