The Chimney Sweeper

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, and in soot I sleep.

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."

And so he was quiet, and that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! --
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel, who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins, and let them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run,
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and 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, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags and our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm:
So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

Cuando mi madre murió yo era muy joven,
y cuando mi padre me vendió mi boca
apenas podía gemir, gemir, gemir, gemir,
así que limpio chimeneas y duermo en el hollín.

Un día el pequeño Tom Dacre lloró cuando raparon
su cabeza rizada como el lomo de un cordero,
y le dije "¡Calla, Tom! No importa, porque con
la cabeza desnuda el hollín no arruinará tu pelo claro."

De modo que se calmó, y aquella misma noche,
¡durante el sueño tuvo una visión!
donde miles de deshollinadores, Dick, Joe, Ned y Jack,
estaban todos prisioneros en ataúdes negros.

Y llegó un Ángel que tenía una llave brillante,
abrió los ataúdes y los puso en libertad;
entonces por un verde prado corren brincando y riendo,
y se lavan en un río, y brillan bajo el sol.

Luego desnudos y blancos, abandonadas sus bolsas,
se encaraman a las nubes y juguetean con el viento,
y el ángel le dice a Tom que si se comporta bien,
tendrá a Dios como padre y no carecerá de alegrías.

Tom despertó entonces, y nos levantamos en la oscuridad,
y con nuestras bolsas y cepillos salimos a trabajar.
Si bien la mañana era fría, Tom se sentía feliz y abrigado;
pues quienes cumplen sus deberes nada tienen que temer.

A little black thing among the snow,
Crying " 'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father and mother? say?"—
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.

"Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smiled among the winter's snow,
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

"And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery."

Two poems, both by William Blake, show the same theme in two different lights. The first Chimney Sweeper, from the songs of innocence, portrays the child as someone who was forced to sweep chimneys through necessity. The main character has a genuinely innocent and optimistic personality. The other Chimney Sweeper, from the songs of experience, gives the illusion that the child was forced into the profession not by a mother’s death, but of a mother’s greed. The child puts on a happy face, but underneath he speaks of “a heaven of our misery.”

The central themes behind each of these poems are the hardships of being a chimney sweeper, why they are a chimney sweeper, and how they deal with it. In the Innocence Chimney Sweeper, the main character speaks of how “in soot I sleep.” Obviously life is not easy for him. However, he looks to the future when all the chimney sweepers go “leaping, laughing, they run.” Right off the bat, the reader is told why he is a chimney sweeper. “When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue.” Obviously, he was forced into the occupation by poverty. The main character has a very optimistic way of coping with the hardships. He helps the others along and is a “half-full” kind of guy. He tells little Tom Dacre after he is forced to cut his hair that now “the soot cannot spoil your white hair.”

The themes of the Chimney Sweeper from the Songs of Experience are more hidden as this is a shorter poem. The hardships in this poem are definitely more dramatic and hateful. The main character says, “They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe.” The main character is definitely more bitter in this poem. The reason as to why he is a chimney sweeper is less obvious. It does not seem it is through poverty, as the parents have time to go to Church and pray. The most probable reason is that the parents are greedy and do not respect the child. That child puts on an act to make them think he is fine. “And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury.” But he goes on to reveal his true feelings of chimney sweeping saying, “Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe.”

The central purpose of the poems is to allow a vision of two very different young boys with similar lives. To me, these poems demonstrated how utterly stupid stereotypes are. These two chimney sweepers could not be more different, yet if one saw the word chimney sweeper, he would immediately look to the boy from the Songs of Innocence.

The imagery in this poem is fantastic. There is imagery which allows for many different implications such as, “In soot I sleep.” This could mean that the boy didn’t have any other clothes and had to sleep in his blackened clothes, or it could mean that he was so tired he actually fell asleep on the job. More imagery is the use of names. In the Songs of Innocence poem, names such as Tom, Dick, and Joe are used because the boy is a lighthearted and genuinely fun person to be around. However, that poem’s darker twin, the Songs of Experience poem lacked any names whatsoever. The structure of imagery is definitely contrasting imagery. This contrast is not so much seen in the individual poems, but in a comparison of the two.

Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. Connotation involves the baggage the word accompanies. The line in which the boy is yelling “’weep! ‘weep!” is a great example of how there exist differences between connotation and denotation. This is just a boy calling for work asking if anybody needs their chimney swept. However, this implies with the connotative meaning that this is a poor little boy covered in soot from a poor family who wants work just so he can have dinner. Big difference, eh?

James Blake is a master poet. He not only provides great contrast in a poem, but provides excellent contrast between two very different poems. The imagery is spectacular and the purpose of this poem has survived almost 250 years.

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