William Blake's "Chimney Sweeper"

Here is William Blake's poem "Chimey 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, & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,

That curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd: so I said

``Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when you head's bare

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.''

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 lock'd up in coffins of black.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he open'd the coffins & set them free;

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

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

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.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,

And got with our bags & our brushes to work,

Tho the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm,

So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

Pretty basic poem right? Divided into stanzas four lines long, ABAB rhyme scheme. It even manages to end on a positive note. Now re-read the last four stanzas again, paying close attention to the second to last one. Basically, an angel is teling little Tom Dacre that if he's good, he'll go to Heaven when he dies. Awwww...wait...

Stop and think about that for moment. The narrator, Tom, and possibly several other children, have been given up by their families for one reason or another and forced to work as chimney sweepers. They're miserable, not surprising as it's a really crappy job with the long hours, working at dangerous heights in cramped, dark, filthy chimneys full of God-knows-what that could give them all kinds of sicknesses. And to top it off, at the time, nobody gave it a second thought!

But here's the kicker: the one positive note of the poem, is that if they "all do their duty" and "be a good boy", they'll go to Heaven when they die. Think about that for a moment, an angel is telling a child that the only good thing they have to look forward to is dying and going to Heaven! That's one step away from telling the kid to kill himself!

To further support this, each half of the poem has a distinctly different tone. The first half is gloomy and depressing. The narrator tells the story of how he was abandoned and left to labor as a chimney sweep, how he and other children were forced to sleep in soot and have their heads shaved, and how Tom dreams of everyone dying and being "lock'd up in coffins black". The second half, however if bright and cheery. An angel releases the sweepers from their confines with a "bright key", and afterwards, they all wash up and "naked and white...rise upon clouds and sport in the wind", ending of course with the angel telling Tom about going to Heaven. The poem also uses a lot of black and white imagery. With the real world being associated with black, grime, and death, much like the titular occupation, and Heaven being assoicated with white, light, and freedom.

So there you have it. What were once hopeful, kind words from a guardian angel are now bleak, depressing, and tragic.