“The Chimney Sweeper” is the name of two ballads written by the romantic poet William Blake. The first one was composed in 1789 and is contained in “Songs of Innocence”, the other one in 1794 and belongs to “Songs of Experience”.
The author criticises the institutions and talks about children and their conditions. In fact, they lived separated from their parents and were exploited by workhouses and the Church that just pretended to protect them. In London, most children were chimney sweepers because they were slight and tiny enough to enter the chimneys, had just few legal rights and could be paid less. For this reason, they had respiratory sickness (for example cancer or lung disease) or died due to soot.
“The Chimney Sweeper” which belongs to “Songs of Innocence” is made up of six stanzas and follows the regular rhyme scheme (A A B B) that creates a musical effect with the repetitions. The other one preserves the same rhyme scheme just in the first stanza because the other two change in C D C D. Both poems are ballads (so the stress pattern is unstressed-stressed) and contain archaic words because Blake wanted to go back to the past. In fact, he criticises the effects of the industrial revolution and of machines which separate mind and spirit. In addition to that, the author uses repetitions of keywords to give them and their hidden meaning more importance and relief. He also inserts oxymora and complementary opposites, so he can create tension between contraries (the only way to progress).
Songs of Innocence
“The Chimney Sweeper” part of “Songs of Innocence” is narrated in 1st person by a child and presents a pastoral mode starting with the fourth stanza.
The first verse of the first stanza starts with the alliteration of the letter “m”. The child-narrator talks about the story of his life: his mother died very young and, since his dad was miserable, he was compelled to make him work. He repeats the onomatopoeic word “weep” to indicate that he started his “job” at a very young age. The last verse contains the alliteration of the letter “s” and the onomatopoeic word “sweep”. He refers to the precarious condition he lives in every day: he is always covered in soot, he can’t wash his body and risks becoming ill every day.
In the second stanza, the child-narrator presents a new character: the young chimney sweeper Tom Dacre. He talks about a difficult moment of his life: the haircut. In fact, chimney sweepers usually had their hair cut due to their job. Tom had blond and curly hair and cried when they shaved him. The narrator tells him that he shouldn’t be worried: in this way his hair won’t be spoiled by soot. Here Blake compares Tom's curly hair to lamb’s back, symbol of Christ and innocence. Moreover, he creates the contrast between white (Tom’s blond hair) and black (soot), inserting the concept of death and sickness and of corrupted innocence.
In the third stanza, Tom is calm and has a dream: thousands of young sweepers are locked up in “coffins of black”, a sort of premonition that indicates the risk of death they live every day.
An Angel appears in the fourth stanza. He unlocks the coffins with a bright key and makes the children conquer freedom: they can smile, laugh, jump and play in a green plain (the pastoral mode). In this atmosphere of light and brightness that is exactly the opposite of the beginning setting, children can wash in the river and purificate their souls. Kids can forget their job and live their innocence approaching God and Heaven.
Still in the dream, the Angel tells Tom to be a good boy because this is the only way he can reach the Father and live in joy and peace. The little child wakes up in the dark in the last stanza and takes the tools to go back to his job. He is happy and feels warm due to the Angel’s words, although outside is cold. Blake marks a strong religious sense by writing the last verse: “So if all do their duty they need not fear harm”. He presents the Catholic idea of reward: if you suffer, you will get a prize.
The author is a bit ironic because this concept could be a sort of consolation: if you die, you will meet God. Blake criticises this mindset which is used by the institution of the Church to make a profit.
Songs of Experience
The author utterly develops this idea in “The Chimney Sweeper” belonging to “Songs of Experience”.
In the first stanza he depicts the initial situation: there is a black spot moving among the snow, it is a child that is crying pain tears. Someone, maybe God or Blake himself, asks the kid where his parents are and the boy answers that they are praying in the Church. The author uses small sentences to create suspense and silence and to break the rhythm.
The second and the third stanzas are made by a series of oppositions communicated by the young chimney sweeper. He complains about his parents' attitude: they thought he was happy just because he smiled among the snow, but the truth is that this is every child's behavior, it’s part of their nature. They sold their son to the Church and made him wear “the clothes of death”. Kids are innocent and should enjoy their childhood, but society makes them suffer.
The author reveals the Christian community’s hypocrisy: christians pray to God, his Priest and the King but don’t understand that they make the institutions become richer and richer on the weakest's shoulders.
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