Blog #13: Paired Poems Revision (Chimney Sweeper)

In William Blake’s 1789 and 1794 versions of his poem, “The Chimney Sweep”, he contrasts the life of a young chimney sweep. Blake associates the 1789 version with innocence in the means that children didn’t need to fear harm as Angels watch over them and the 1794 version in that through experience, the sweep’s mistrust of adults. Through his use of imagery, rhyme schemes, and metaphors, Blake is able to portray this to the audience.

Looking first at the 1789 version, Blake uses imagery to portray the visions of a dream. In lines 11-16 Blake writes, "Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and 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 all free. Then down a green plain, leaping laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun." Then, looking at lines 5-7 of the 1794 version, Blake writes, "Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winter's snow; They clothed me in the clothes of death." In the first version, Blake uses imagery to depict a morbid scene, of small children in black coffins. However, this morbidity vanishes as he describes the Angel setting them free by using words such as "green plain" and "leaping" and "shine" as these words are vastly different than what the boys were experiencing as chimney sweeps. With this use of imagery, the author portrays the hope and innocence the young sweeps possessed. The vivid dream brought them hope that they didn't need to fear harm because if they did end up in black coffins, they believed an angel would set them free, which also portrays their innocence as they trusted in the idea of "the angel".  This is different in the second version of the poem however, because the imagery used doesn't create a joyful image in the reader's mind. Looking back at the line "clothed me in the clothes of death," this kind of represents the young sweep's loss of innocence and gain of experience, because he no longer trusts the adults because they believe the children are happy as they can’t see past their misery.

Another technique Blake uses in both poems is purposeful rhyming pattern. In the 1789 version, Blake uses an AA BB rhyme pattern consistently throughout the entire poem. Then looking at the 1794 version, Blake uses the same AA BB rhyme pattern in the first stanza, but uses an AB AB pattern throughout the rest of the poem. In the 1789 version --which is also the version that represents the innocence of the young sweeps-- it shows the sweeps consistently trusting adults and authority, and the consistent rhyming pattern reflects this. Looking at the 1794 version, when the rhyming switches to AB AB, this represents the gain of experience of the young sweeps, as they have learned that the adults don't understand their misery and learned through experience, that they shouldn't always trust them. This is reflected by the rhyme scheme as every other line rhymes. 

Blake's use of metaphors is also prevalent in both of his poems. Looking at the 1789 version, Blake addresses the fact that the young sweeps crawling into the chimneys is seen as a metaphor for their death. In the poem, Blake discusses a dream of the sweepers locked up in black coffins, due to the dirt, soot, and dangers of cleaning the chimneys. In the 1794 version of the poem, Blake describes the sweepers as, "little black things among the snow" which although isn't exactly a metaphor, still alludes to their death. So, both poems still allude to their death.