The Chimney Sweeper

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1789

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Poetic Form and Structure

The poem consists of six quatrains (four-line stanzas). The length of the lines varies, and the meter, the rhythmic structure of the lines, is rather loose. Most lines are in tetrameter: They contain four metric feet (“tetra” comes from Greek for “four”). The most prominent types of metric feet in “The Chimney Sweeper” are anapests and iambs. An anapest consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (as in the word “un-der-stand”). An iamb contains two syllables, with the accent on the second syllable (as in the word “be-yond”). The first line of the poem is a good example of Blake’s mixing of these two types of metric feet in the same line. The four syllables in bold letters carry the accent, so the line contains four metric feet in this order: anapest, iamb, anapest, iamb.

When my mo / ther died / I was ve / ry young (Line 1)

More formal poems tend to employ a more regular meter (for example, only iambs), but Blake’s poem gives voice to a child, whose speech would be more casual. Therefore, the poem’s meter fits and reflects the nature of the speaker.

Rhyme

The rhyme scheme in each stanza of “The Chimney Sweeper” is aabb, which means that the first and the second lines rhyme with each other as do the third and the fourth lines. For example, in the first stanza the rhymes are young/tongue (Lines 1 & 2) and weep/sleep (Lines 3 & 4).

The first four stanzas contain regular rhymes because the lines end with identical vowel and consonant sounds: night/sight (Lines 9 & 10). However, the last two stanzas include three slant rhymes (or half rhymes), in which either the final vowels or the final consonants in the rhyming words do not match. In this case, the final vowels are mismatched: behind/wind (Lines 17 & 18), dark/work (Lines 21 & 22), and warm/harm (Lines 23 & 24). These imperfect rhymes unsettle the sing-song flow of the poem, overturning the poem’s presumed message about duty and obedience. They insinuate that Tom’s dream is too slick and glossy, veiling a more unruly reality of his life. Three of the four rhyming words in the last stanza remind the reader of that reality: “dark” (Line 21), “work” (Line 22), and “harm” (Line 24).

Caesura

Caesura (or cesura, Latin for “cut”) is a break in the reading of a poetic line, usually in the middle. Sometimes poets use it for a specific rhetorical purpose, such as to create a dramatic pause or indicate hesitation. However, this poetic device often simply contributes to the poem’s overall rhythm. Blake uses caesuras throughout the poem. For example, here are the caesuras in the fifth stanza:

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.

These pauses give the stanza an internal rhythm, but since they do not always occur in the very middle of the line, that rhythm is not excessively formal. The caesuras also emphasize the simplicity of the sentence structure in the speech of the chimney sweeper. Short declarative clauses line up in simple coordination, without any complicating subordinated clauses, which creates a plausible speech pattern for the child speaker. The caesura also creates a sense of connection between the stressed words that precede it. “White” (Line 17) describes the naked children, but it could also describe “clouds” (Line 18). Placing both “Tom” (Line 19) and “father” (Line 20) before the caesura enhances the link between them: Tom was abandoned by his physical father and now seeks love from the heavenly father. Thus, in subtle ways, this rhythmic element of the poem also supports and shades its meaning.