"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 sweep, a boy who has been sold into labor by his father. The sweep meets a new recruit to the chimney sweeping gang named Tom Dacre, who arrives terrified. After the speaker tries to reassure Tom, Tom dreams of an angel who sets the chimney sweeps free, allowing them to play in green fields and then ascend to heaven. This dream seems to suggest that if the boys are obedient workers, they'll get into heaven. Implicitly, though, the poem takes issue with this idea, suggesting that it's a form of indoctrination for the Church. The companion poem of the same title, published in Songs of Experience, makes this position—that promises of heavenly salvation are simply a means to exploit child labor—crystal clear.
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The Full Text of “The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)”
1When my mother died I was very young,
2And my father sold me while yet my tongue
3Could scarcely cry "weep! weep! weep! weep!"
4So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
5There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
6That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,
7"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
8You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."
9And so he was quiet, & that very night,
10As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
11That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
12Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;
13And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
14And he opened the coffins & set them all free;
15Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
16And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
17Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
18They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
19And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
20He'd have God for his father & never want joy.
21And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
22And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
23Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
24So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
The Full Text of “The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)”
1When my mother died I was very young,
2And my father sold me while yet my tongue
3Could scarcely cry "weep! weep! weep! weep!"
4So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
5There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
6That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,
7"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
8You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."
9And so he was quiet, & that very night,
10As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
11That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
12Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;
13And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
14And he opened the coffins & set them all free;
15Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
16And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
17Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
18They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
19And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
20He'd have God for his father & never want joy.
21And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
22And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
23Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
24So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Summary
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Themes
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Hardship and Childhood
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Religion and Redemption
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)”
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Lines 1-4
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry "weep! weep! weep! weep!"
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep. -
Lines 5-8
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,
"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." -
Lines 9-12
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black; -
Lines 13-16
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he opened 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. -
Lines 17-20
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. -
Lines 21-24
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Symbols
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Tom Dacre's Hair
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Assonance
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Caesura
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Consonance
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End-Stopped Line
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Epizeuxis
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Sibilance
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Simile
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Soot
- Tom Dacre
- Sport
- Want
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Speaker
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“The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)”
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More “The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)” Resources
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External Resources
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A Reading of "The Chimney Sweeper" — The poem read by Toby Jones.
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Illustrations and Other Poems — A resource from the Tate organization, which holds a large collection of Blake originals.
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Full Text of Songs of Innocence and Experience — The full text in which "The Chimney Sweeper" is collected.
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Blake's Visions — An excerpt from a documentary in which writer Iain Sinclair discusses Blake's religious visions.
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Blake's Radicalism — Another excerpt from Sinclair, this time on Blake's radicalism.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Blake
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