The Chimney Sweeper, a poem by William Blake, was first published as part of a collection in 1789 titled Songs of Innocence. This collection would later be combined with another entitled Songs of Experience in as early as 1794. However, “the printing history of the combined Songs is complicated because Blake printed it while also continuing to print [them] separately” (“SONGS OF INNOCENCE”). Though Blake came to be a well-regarded poet, he “was better known by his contemporaries for his engravings and designs than for his poetry” (“William Blake”). Because of his artistic background, he created the engravings for his books. In some cases, he added pictures for viewing alongside the body of the poems. For example, the picture for The Chimney Sweeper portrays a young worker walking through a storm. Despite Blake’s engraving and artistic capabilities he didn’t publish many copies of Songs, and it’s remarked that because of “the scarcity of his books and his reputation for madness, his work received scant attention from his peers” (“William Blake”). As previously mentioned, this changed as critics came to recognize and appreciate Blake’s “prophetic” exploration of social and political issues. 

In The Chimney Sweeper, Blake explores the lives of chimney sweeps, or climbing boys. These were children who worked climbing inside and cleaning chimneys. This was a dirty, dangerous, and low paying job. When Blake wrote this poem, toward the end of the 18th century, Great Britain was experiencing an Industrial Revolution. The growing use of steam led to a boom in factories that contributed to the growth of the chimney sweeper profession. Sadly, according to freelance history writer Jessica Brain “those employed were often orphans or from impoverished backgrounds, sold into the job by their parents” (Brain). The Chimney Sweeper, through Blake’s nameless narrator, corroborates this by stating in the opening lines: “when my mother died I was very young / and my father sold me…” (Blake, lines 1-2). This transaction by the narrator’s father shows how this industry had a lot of similarities to slavery. To the point where a worker was sometimes even legally owned by their master, or boss. Brain provides additional commentary, explaining “very often those that had been sold by their parents had even signed papers securing [the child’s boss] status as their legal guardians” (Brain). 

The narrator in the poem goes on to say they “could scarcely cry” and “so your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep” (Blake, lines 3-4). Here we gain a picture of the difficult life the narrator has been sold into. A lifestyle where they must prioritize work over grief, and go to bed covered in black soot. But the narrator appears to cope, as they comfort a fellow chimney sweeper named Tom Dacre when he cries. The next portion, and main section of the poem, is a dream Tom has. In this dream, he sees “thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack / were all of them locked up in coffins of black” (Blake, lines 11-12). What appears as a morbid vision, possibly alluding to the danger of their work, quickly becomes pleasant as an Angel comes and releases the boys into heaven. Then, “the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy / he’d have God for his father & never want joy” (Blake, lines 19-20). Here we see a religious figure, the Angel, encouraging Tom to continue his hard work. The key the Angel uses to bring them all to heaven, a place of eternal happiness, acts as a symbol for the hard work and obedience the Angel prescribes Tom. At the end of the poem, Tom awakes ready and eager to work after this vision. 

Taken at face value, this is a poem about accepting one’s situation and using religion as comfort and a way to cope. But when considering the dark picture accompanying the poem, and the dark truths of the chimney sweep’s profession referenced, this is a story criticizing moral justifications made for exploitative labor practices. This profession, a necessary evil for the period, exploited young children “from some as young as four up until puberty” (Brain). Those who didn’t die by suffocation, or getting stuck, and made it into adulthood “would suffer terrible health conditions” (Brain). Meaning, if Blake’s poem is read at face value, being a chimney sweep isn’t so bad because if you work hard then you’ll live in eternal bliss after dying a painful death. Blake’s sarcasm and prod at religious justifications are further reinforced by his “sympathy with political and civil liberties” that “put him at odds with the notoriously repressive government of William Pitt” (“William Blake”). Furthermore, “some critics have speculated that Blake obscured his ideas behind the veil of mysticism to circumvent government censure” (“William Blake”). 

This theme of justifying exploitative labor practices resonates today with companies like Shein. Whereas the British elite took advantage of poor, orphaned children to work a necessary industry, Shein does the same to maximize profits in their own industry. According to a report in 2021 “Shein systematically takes advantage of the fact that these employees are prepared to forgo even a minimum degree of safety, free time and quality of life, because they feel that they don’t really have an alternative” (Kolbrunner). When given no other alternative by their greedy supervisors, chimney sweeps and sweatshop workers alike are forced to dig deep for hope. Even if that means finding hope in death. 

Primary: 

Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper: When My Mother Died I Was...” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43654/the-chimney-sweeper-when-my-mother-.... Accessed 28 Apr. 2024. 

"William Blake." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Jay Parini, vol. 13, Gale, 1986. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/apps/doc/EJNXCN733655569/LCO?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-LCO&xid=c827f90c. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. Originally published in The Spectator, vol. 63, no. 1847, 21 Nov. 1863, pp. 2771-2773.

Secondary: 

Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper”. 1794. Photograph. British Museum. https://blakearchive.org/images/songsie.b.p45-37.100.jpg. Accessed April 29, 2024.

Brain, Jessica. “Chimney Sweeps and Climbing Boys.” Historic UK, 1 Dec. 2023, www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/History-Boy-Chimney-Sweep/. 

“London Lives 1690 to 1800.” Background - Parliamentary Reform - London Lives, www.londonlives.org/static/ParliamentaryReform.jsp. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

“SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE (COMPOSED 1789, 1794).” The William Blake Archive, blakearchive.org/work/songsie. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. 

Extra:

Kollbrunner, Timo. “Toiling Away for Shein.” 19 Nov. 2021, stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/.