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Joint English Discovery ProjectElla 4

Sanny Hoskins

Blake was an English painter, poet and printmaker who was unrecognized for these features during his time.

Art critics now claim that he is “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced”

He was born (November 1757) in London and he also died (August 1827) in London

His most popular collection of poems are Songs Of Innocence (1789) and Songs Of Experience (1794). Both books of songs were printed from copper plates and finished by hand in water colours.

Blake’s final years, spent in great poverty, were cheered by the admiring friendship of a group of younger artists who called themselves “the Ancients.”

William Blake

The Chimney- Sweeper(Songs Of Innocence)When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongueCould 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 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 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.

The poem is set in England in the late 18th and 19th century where at the ages of four and five, children were sold to clean chimneys as they were small enough to reach up through them.

It is related to Blake’s earlier poem “The Little Black Boy” – a poem about a white boy being blackened by the soot of human cruelty as he was put through child labour.

The decoration at the bottom of the plate shows the Angel unlocking the coffin and the boys rejoicing in their freedom

Background on the Poem

The first stanza introduces the speaker “mother” is a nurturing word therefore by using “mother” and “died” in the same

line, Blake is instantly showing that this poem has a negative tone as the theme of family and death are introduced in the same line.

A main emphasis on stanza one is expressing how young the speaker is. “yet my tongue Could scarcely cry”. The character had not even learned how to talk, let alone cry, when his farther sold him. Blake is bringing in the theme of innocence by showing how the speakers innocence is being taken away, which fits in with the title of the collection of poems that this poem originally came from (Songs Of Innocence).

The speaker is sleeping in bad conditions “and in soot I sleep”. This was a well-known phrase in the later eightieth and earlier nineteenth centuries as chimney sweepers used to sleep in the blankets or cloths that they used to clean the chimneys. This was known as “sleeping in soot” however the pessimistic words used in this poem suggest that Blake means it more literally.

Stanza 1

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.

The second stanza introduces the speakers friend Tom Dacre may be a friend of the speakers, a young boy of the same age.

“his head That curled like a lamb’s back”. This line is describing that Tom Dacre’s hair was curly, much like a lambs. However animal imagery is used to describe the boys as like lambs, they are seen as young and innocent. It could also be a reference to religon (the lamb of God) as religious imagery is used later on in the poem. There is symbolic meaning as “soot” is a representation of sin and “white hair” is angelic as soot cannot literally spoil hair therefore the theme of colours is used to show juxtaposition between good and evil as white is being used to promote purity and innocence.

Stanza 2

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."

The third, fourth and fifth stanza recall Tom Dacres dream. “As Tom was a-sleeping, he has such a sight”

The next line is showing how the children are not seen as individuals, but as a work force. “That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack”. By using common names and the word “thousands”, Blake is emphasising how many children were forced into being chimney sweepers and how there is no escape from it.

The colour “black” is involved in the last line “locked up in coffins of black”. The colour “black” and the word “coffins” connotes death however the coffins may be “black” as that is the colour of soot therefore Blake is showing that they are being worked to death. The black coffins may also be a metaphor for the boys lives, instead of being trapped in a coffin, they are trapped in chimneys.

Stanza 3

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.

This stanza is very biblically related: Tom Dacre’s dream becomes brighter. “came an angel who had a bright key” may be a

religious reference to Matthews gospel where Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. However this quote is still somewhat sinister as it is related to death, Blake may be suggesting that the only way out is to die (and then go to heaven). “he opened the coffins and set them all free” Blake backing this previous point up as Tom is comforted by the idea of life out of a coffin (an afterlife)

There is a semantic field of nature in lines 15 to 16. The words “river” and “sun” suggest freedom as instead of being trapped in a dark chimney, they are now able to “shine”. A “wash in a river” represents how the boys are thoroughly clean as in reality they would not have access to running water. It can also be seen as religious imagery as Jesus baptism was in a river and baptism can be seen as new life.

Blakes attitudes towards religion may suggest that he believes Christians are using religion as a way to escape their reality.

Stanza 4

And by came an angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins and set them all free;

Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run,

And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

The line “Naked and white, all their bags left behind” expresses their freedom and innocence. As they have left everything it shows that they are burden-free.

God then has a discussion with Tom “He’d have God for his father, and never want joy”. Before, the boys were all seen as a group however now Tom is being singled out, showing that they are individuals. Also, at the beginning of the poem, the speaker said his father sold him and now God will become their father instead therefore the poem is being brought round to a full circle

Stanza 5

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.

The final stanza shows Tom waking back into reality “So if all do their duty they need not fear harm”. This shows how Tom feels that if he keeps working and does not complain, that everything will eventually be alright.

The line “though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm” expresses how even though his life may be tough, he will still be happy.

Stanza 6

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.

REPETITION; “’weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!” RHYMING; “young” and “tongue”, “weep” and

“sleep”, “head” and “said”, “bare” and “hair”, “night” and “sight”, “Jack” and “black”, “key” and “free”, “run” and “sun”, “boy” and “joy”

METAHPOR; “locked up in coffins of black” but they are really trapped in chimneys

SIMILIES; “his head, That curled like a lamb's back”

Literacy Devices

FAMILY; “mother” “father” BODY PARTS; “tongue” “head” “back” “hair” COLOURS; “green” “white” “black” RELIGION; “God” “angel” “bright key” HAPPINESS; “leaping” “laughing” “happy” “warm” DARKNESS; “died” “weep” “cry” “cried” “night”

“coffins” “locked” “black” “fear” “cold” NAMES; “Tom Dacre” “Dick” “Joe” “Ned” “Jack” CHIMNEYS; “chimneys” “sweep” “soot” “sweepers”

“black” “brushes” “dark” NATURE: “plain” “green” “river” “shine” “sun”

Themes