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“The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake
Poem Outline
Thesis: William Blake, the author of the poem “The Chimney Sweeper," reflects the cruel child
labor, misery, death, as well as impurity that most children were predisposed to in the 18th
century. The author expresses his feelings by utilizing haunting imagery and incorporating
various moods to depict his emotional state that is prompted by the lives of children who lived as
chimney sweepers.
I. Symbolism
a) The title itself is symbolic: The highlighted chimney sweepers symbolize the toils
that people endure in their life.
b) Soot and black is a symbol of sin.
c) White is utilized as a symbol of heavenly purity.
II. Imagery
a) The black color is used to reflect the harsh situation that children endured in the
18th century.
i. Coffin of black
ii. Soot is black
b) The author uses the white color to symbolize heavenly and a child's purity.
i. Little Tom is identified through his white hair.
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III. Rhythm
a) Anapestic and Iambic
b) Mood
i. Angry
ii. Depressing
iii. Happiness
IV. Christian Worldview
a) From a Christian world view, the Angel signifies peace.
b) Faith is a depiction of hope for the suffering children.
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Essay (The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake)
In William Blake’s poem, “The Chimney Sweeper,” the poet expresses his vehement
emotions that are provoked by the abuse of children that prevailed in the 18th century and the
terrible or harsh conditions that children from impoverished families were exposed to as well as
the lives they were forced to live while working as chimney sweepers. The major themes that are
highlighted in Blake's poem are misery, cruel child labor, death, as well as a societal impurity.
The poem depicts the miseries that most children endured while serving as chimney sweepers.
Blake's poem offers an impeccably fitting mood of gloom or despair and distress. The poet
incorporates his writing skills to ensure that the reader gets his sense of bitterness that provokes
their emotions.
At the beginning of the poem, the poet informs his audience regarding who will be
portrayed in the poem. The poet composed this poem at a time when the impacts of the French
Revolution were overarched, and children were being exploited, which marked one of the
cruelest historical periods. The author utilizes different styles to pass his message to the audience
that includes symbolism, imagery, rhythm, as well as a Christian worldview. The poem’s title
itself is symbolic since the highlighted chimney sweepers symbolize the toils that people endure
in their life. Also, the poet uses a black color to symbolize the sinful nature of the people who
engaged children in forced labor. He also finds it essential to use a white color to symbolize
purity. Moreover, Blake uses imagery in his poem to express how situations were during that
period. For instance, the narrator posits that “When my mother died, I was very young, and my
father sold me while yet my tongue” (Blake n.p). Although the poet does not clearly depict if
children were sold into slavery, he depicts how they were forced into child labor.
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In the 18th century, low-income families would send their young children to a master
chimney sweep to help provide for their food and shelter because of the unemployment during
that time. The imagery that Blake utilizes in the fourth line begins by describing the way they
were treated but at the same time the way they looked, "So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I
sleep" by reading this, the reader can wonder do the children sleep in soot, but what Blake meant
was these children were covered in soot from hard labor, and at times they would use the
clothing they used that day as a blanket at night to sleep. In the third stanzas, Blake uses the
imagery of a "Black coffin" to describe the chimneys they were forced to clean because it was a
tight, dark, scary, and deadly place for a child to have to work in.
In the second stanza, Blake reviles to his reader who the child is speaking in the poem,
“Tom Dacre" Blake gives us the imagery of Tom to show us that he is of a very young age. The
first clue to Tom's age is when Blake speaks of a "lamb" in the second line when Blake speaks
about his hair, "curled like a lamb's back" when knowing a lamb is a newly born sheep, so this
would show the reader that Tom would be no more than five years old. The second imagery
Blake provides for his readers about Tom's age is found in the fourth line, "You know that the
soot cannot spoil your white hair" in this reference when a child is extremely young, their hair is
almost white instead of fully blonde. The author makes imagery of the children being white and
naked in the seventeenth line. This is an indication that children are innocent, pure, and it also is
a symbol of childhood.
Blake uses both iambic and anapestic; these two were Blake's favorite ways to write his
poetry. The poem consists of six stanzas with four lines. The poem is full of rhymed couplets.
With having so many couplets, this poem has the same pattern as a nursery rhyme. Blake uses
many kinds of moods to express all the feelings in his poem. The first mood Blake sets is found
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in stanza one. The reader can see the emotions of depression when the children were sold over to
the master chimney sweep and taken away from their parents. Also, Blake begins to set the mood
that shows how the children are mistreated and the dirty environment they were forced to live in.
The author expresses anger in some parts of the poem when Tom is told to "Hush Tom, never
mind it!" The last emotion the author expresses is happiness. This happens when Tom falls
asleep and dreams of an Angel that brought him a message of happiness and joy, and for Tom
not to give up, and to be strong and to carry on, because a time will come when he finds joy and
peace in the end.
At the end of the poem "The Chimney Sweeper," we can look at this from a Christian
Worldview. Blake uses the imagery of an "Angel who had a bright key,” who came to Tom in
his dream to set the boys free from living in dark, harsh, and terrible conditions, “and he opened
the coffin and set them all free” (Kumar n.p). There are times in life where we may feel bond in
chains or going through challenging times in life, but when we know that God is near, we are at
peace. Blake tells his readers that the Angel gave Tom a joyful message "And the Angel told
Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father & never want joy" Blake then tells his
readers that when "Tom awoke: and he rose in the dark," referring to night time, Tom gathered
his things and went off to work happy and warm. This is an indication that Tom has no more
worries and that he is trusting in God as his Father to get him through the tough times he knows
he will face. With God’s protection, “they need not fear harm." Tom has hope and purpose in life
because he knows he is loved by a mighty Father. In the sixth stanza, Blake tells his readers that
Tom is now a new being feeling refreshed and carefree. This shows how the children were saved
from their suffering.
