Social Issues that Contribute to Death

Two poems, "The Chimney Sweeper" (1789) by William Blake and "Dulce et Decorum Est" (1920) by Wilfred Owen, discuss death resulting from social issues. While both poems utilize first-person speakers who experience the social injustice and witness (or at least realize the potential for) a person's death, the speakers share very different attitudes toward the specific death.

"The Chimney Sweeper" addresses social issues of poverty, child labor, and unhealthy working conditions. To deal with his dangerous work reality,  the speaker tells of  Tom's (Tom is a new co-worker) dream of an angel who unlocks black coffins and sets thousands of sweepers free: "Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run/And wash in a river and shine in the Sun," (lines 11-16). The angel makes a conditional promise to Tom: "If he'd be a good boy/He'd have God for his father & never want joy," (lines 19-20). It's curious that Tom, and not the speaker, experiences this dream. Despite not experiencing the dream himself,  and Tom waking from the dream to the harsh reality of life as a chimney sweep, the speaker reiterates the angel's promise in the last line of the poem:  "So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm." Possibly the speaker is making the best out of a hopeless situation. Possibly the speaker actually believes that it's his duty to be a chimney sweep, and that by doing good as a chimney sweep, he will get the promises made by the angel. The speaker in "Dulce et Decorum Est" holds no such hope. 

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is Latin for "Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country," (see footnote to "Dulce et Decorum Est"). This sentiment mirrors the promise made by the angel in "The Chimney Sweeper," yet the speaker of this poem calls it "The old Lie," (line 27). After recounting the hardships of marching during WWI, the speaker intensifies the frenzied situation in the second stanza, revealing the fear and desperation resulting from gas-shells. In the final stanza, the speaker addresses the reader: "If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace...could watch...could hear..." (lines 17-24), essentially could witness the violent and sickening death--if  you could see what I see, the speaker insists, "you would not tell with such high zest/To children...The old Lie," (lines 25-27).

Both social issues, children as chimney sweeps and war, are dangerous. Chimney sweep labor laws were rarely enforced (see footnote 1 to poem), and society at large seemed to overlook the injustice. While the dangers of war and chimney sweeping may seem unbalanced in comparison, the more unbalanced aspect lies in the resulting opinion of the situations.  In contrast to "The Chimney Sweeper," which promotes a future dream-like hope for children entering this line of work, "Dulce et Decorum Est" graphically reveals the reality of war and fights against instilling false ideas of glory and nobility in new recruits.