The Chimney Sweeper – William Blake

 

The Chimney Sweeper – William Blake

 

"The Chimney Sweeper" is a poem by William Blake, published in his 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. The poem is told from the perspective of a young chimney sweeper.

 

The speaker in the poem is a young boy, probably not older than ten, who works as a chimney sweeper in the 18th-century London. He lost his mother while he was still an infant, and his father gave him away for money while the boy was still too young to pronounce his sibilants. He has become one of many poor orphans who must work for their upkeep.

He describes another such boy, fellow chimneysweeper Tom Dacre, crying because his hair was shaved. Hair from the head was removed off as the wool is shaven off from the lambs. The speaker comforts him by saying that now at least his hair will not be spoiled by soot.

That night, Tom has a dream in which he sees thousands of boys like him confined in coffins, but an angel unlocks the coffins and lets them out. The boys enjoy their freedom by running in a valley and laughing. After they wash in a river and dry in the sun, they rise on clouds and play in the wind. The angel tells Tom that, if he is a good boy, God will be his father and give him joy.

Tom awakes before dawn because he and the speaker must go to work. It is a cold morning, but Tom is warm and happy because of his dream. The last line of the poem spells out what appears to be its moral: Those who do their duty will be protected from harm