Romantic Period Rough Draft - The Chimney Sweeper

Wei Mei

Mrs. Wilson

English IV B

13 May 2013

The Chimney Sweeper Essay

In seventeenth century England, the English would burn coal instead of wood in their fireplaces to elude hearth taxes. Even though its cost efficient, soot is a deadly byproduct of burning coal. Soot would pollute the air inside of homes and render them uninhabitable. Being small and nimble, children were hired to work under hazardous conditions to sweep the chimneys clean of soot.  As a result, chimney sweepers in the eighteenth century inspired William Blake to write “The Chimney Sweepers” (Songs of Innocence and Experience) to share his thoughts towards their lives. Blake engages symbolism, varying tones, and imagery in his poem in order to bring public attention to these cases of involuntary servitude along with the harsh lives of these children.

William Blake implements many symbols into “The Chimney Sweeper” in order to amplify the meaning of behind the symbolism, bring simplicity to a complex idea, and to bring a subconscious connection between the poem and the reader. The colors “black” and “white” are two of the most important uses of symbolism in these two poems. Black being the symbolism of death and despair, white contrasts it by being the symbolism of innocence and hope. Scattered throughout the poem, many examples of “black” or “white” objects were revealed to the readers in order to show how they affect the chimney sweepers. Blake cleverly intermingles metaphor with symbolism “There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head/ That curled like a lamb's back” (Blake 6-7) to allow the reader to grasp a deeper understanding over the connection between the children and the lamb. Instead of bluntly discussing the innocence of the child, Blake refers the child to a lamb which symbolize the innocence of childhood. Even though death is something that happens everyday, Blake brings guilt and pity to the reader by suggesting death of the innocence “Because I was happy upon the heath,/ And smiled among the winter's snow,/ They clothed me in the clothes of death” (Blake 6-8). The “clothes of death” brings in mind the color black which points to the soot that the children work with every day. Being covered in soot, the children become marked by death. Right before the reference to death, Blake uses positive words such as “happy”, “smiled”, and “snow” to imply joy. Snow being white (usually) symbolizes the innocence of the child that would eventually be led to death under the grim working conditions.

          In “The Chimney Sweepers” (Songs of Innocence and Experience), Blake employs an array of tones to contrast the perspective of a chimney sweeper living under dangerous conditions in order to show how much attitude can affect one’s life. In Songs of Innocence, a sad but optimistic tone is implied. Melancholy was expressed by the narrator referring to all the children as “Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. (Blake 12) The “coffins of black” being a reference to the inside of the chimney which is extremely fatal if the soot is inhaled. The black again, represents death. A hopeful and optimistic tone was used when “an Angel who had a bright key,/ And he opened the coffins & set them [children] all free;” (Blake 13-14).  The “bright key” is again, a symbolism of hope due to its obvious insinuation to the color white as it is the brightest color in the spectrum. The “Angel” doesn’t necessarily have to mean the classic biblical being from heaven with a pair of wings and a halo over its head. The angel could simply be an allusion to someone that had the courage to free them of their servitude. Blake is communicating to the reader that the reader would be doing the work of angels if they would contribute to helping the children that are in environments similar to the chimney sweepers in this poem.

A heavy use of imagery was utilized by Blake to articulate and to paint in the reader’s mind how he sees it in his mind. “And by came an Angel who had a bright key,/ And he open'd the coffins & set them all free;/ Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run,/ And wash in a river. and shine in the Sun./ Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,/ They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;/ And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,/ He'd have God for his father & never want joy.” (Blake 13-20). Not only does Blake apply an exuberant amount of imagery in the passage above, he uses it to brandish Romantic characteristics by emphasizing the love of nature, the natural man, and the achievements of the individual. The descriptive imagery of the countryside displays a love of nature, the “naked & white” bodies of the boy is the reference to the natural man, and the boy was asked for his achievement of happiness in order to “have God for his father”.

By employing symbolism, varying tones, and imagery, William Blake brings attention to the public of the harsh working conditions of chimney sweepers. He implies criticism on the society for not amending this issue. Blake motivates the society to reform by invoking feelings of moral guilt.