What Does The Chimney Sweeper Mean

Concerning his poems, William Blake provides a great deal of imagery and symbolism. In William Blake's poem "The Chimney-Sweeper" a young boy tells the story of the horrific conditions faced by chimney sweepers. The author uses the narrators point of view to explain the paradox between good and evil.

The first stanza begins by telling the background of the chimney sweeper, or climbing boys as they were called. "When my mother died I was very young, [a]nd my father sold me..." (Blake lines 1-2). Once the boy's mother died his father sold him into an apprenticeship. It is here where Blake introduces his first instance of good and evil. Here the mother is seen as the "good". Muriel Mellown of the Literary Reference Center states that "His mother—always inIt can be inferred that the young sweeper loved his mother and was hurt emotionally over her death. The father on the other hand is seen as the "evil". Muriel Mellown states that "... sold as an apprentice by his father, the stern figure of authority..." (Mellown 3). This was quite normal for this time period considering that the man of the household was supposed to work while the woman took care of the house. However, it can be inferred that the narrator looks at him as a demonic man who does not care for him.

In the second paragraph when "little Tom Dacre" (Blake 5) arrives he becomes inititated into his new job by first getting his hair cut. Tom becomes saddened by this until the narrator cheers him up by saying "...Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head's bare,You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair" (Blake lines 7-8). It is here that the work is seen as the bad. In contrast to this in the next stanza Blake illustrates Tom's dream. Muriel Mellown says, "Tom dreams that thousands of sweepers locked in coffins are released by an angel. Suddenly, they find themselves in a pastoral landscape, where, freed from