“The Chimney Sweeper” is a part of Songs of Innocence and of Experience collection of poems written by William Blake in 1789. William Blake is an English poet and painter of the Romantic age. The meaning of “The Chimney Sweeper” is about the exploitative state of the society in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when small children were sent to clean a chimney, and how an innocent child seeks freedom in these terrible conditions. The author uses several literary devices, such as imagery, tone, and symbolism, to illustrate how the children escape their hardships through dreams and how their innocence helps them relieve their suffering.
The power of imagery in the poem reaches its peak at the end when the reader sees the contrast between two settings of the poem: Tom’s dream and reality. This contrast becomes evident when the last verse introduces the new setting to the reader: freezing children working in the morning, cleaning out the chimneys. The lines “Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run, / And wash in a river and shine in the Sun” (Blake, 1789, Lines 15-16) play with the naturalistic imagery, evoking a sense of cheerfulness and joy. There is certain dynamism to the scene: children running through a landscape, where earth (a green plain), water (a river), and fire (the sun) circle them around.
The natural scenery is juxtaposed against the lifeless, perhaps industrial imagery of the chimney. Whittaker (2020) argues that the poems from Songs of Innocence and of Experience are associated with either “the love between parent and child, or child and the natural world” (p. 70). The lines “And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark / And got with our bags & our brushes to work” (Blake, 1789, Lines 21-22) contrast with Tom’s dream. Instead of the warm sun shining brightly, there is darkness and coldness to the real setting. If in the dream it was the sun rising above the children, in reality, it is the children that “rose in the dark.” In a sense, the characters themselves become the source of warmth, and this is why the poem ends on a hopeful note.
However, the tone of the poem is not only hopeful but also didactic. The narrator warns and reassures the reader that eventually, all the hard work will pay off. However, the poem does not neglect the exploitative nature of the setting, although it provides a certain level of comfort that everything will be in its right place. The line “So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm” (Blake, 1789, Line 24) is addressed to both the characters and the reader. It evokes a sense of hope and a bright future, and simultaneously the feeling of possible danger if the children do not comply.
The innocence of a child is tested against the hardships of the times; thus, the didactic tone navigates the characters through the poverty and helps them protect the said innocence. Whittaker (2020) explains that “Blake’s belief in the importance of innocence kept his radicalism alive” (p. 72). Therefore, the tone highlighting the significance of purity emphasizes the severity of child exploitation. Moreover, it also reminds the reader about the risk of looking at a child suffering from a Christian perspective; one should avoid legitimizing the abuse because of children’s purity.
Finally, the symbolism in the poem can be found in the angelic manifestation. The “bright key” that the angel is holding to open the children’s coffins symbolizes freedom from terrible reality. The lines “And by came an Angel who had a bright key, / And he opened the coffins & set them all free” (Blake, 1789, Lines 13-14) show the salvation in liberty. Despite that the dream starts rather dark (with children being locked up in the coffins), the key becomes the bridge between the earth and the heavens. Instead of just opening the coffins, the angel unlocks them with the key; this is how the narrator enhances the contrast between imprisonment and freedom.
Whittaker (2020) describes how the practice of exploiting children for chimney sweeping decreased in its popularity in the late eighteenth century; however, “professional sweeps continued to use their own children to climb the narrow chimneys” (p. 155). The narrowness of chimneys is compared to the enclosed space of the coffin, so Tom’s dream reflects children’s desire to escape from the harsh reality.
In conclusion, “The Chimney Sweeper” manages to reenact the horrors of child abuse and the power of their innocence through the contrast between naturalistic and industrial imagery, the didactic tone, and the symbolic object. The beautiful scenery in the dream encapsulates the desire for freedom and release from misery; the narrator’s tone reminds the reader of the harsh working conditions, and the angelic key symbolizes the escape from the prison of reality. This poem is still relevant because it warns about not only the dangers of children’s exploitation but also how society accepts the legitimacy of the abuse by attaching the innocence of Christian suffering to it.
References
Blake, W. “The Chimney Sweeper.” Poetry Foundation. Web.
Whittaker, J. (2020). Divine images: The life and work of William Blake. Reaktion Books.