1. Amanda Reed
Dr. Klauza
EN 102
April 13, 2011
Hope Amidst the Hopelessness
Darkness. Hopelessness. Happiness. Hopefulness. Words such as these describe the
changing tone of William Blake’s poem “The Chimney Sweeper.” The poem seeks to describe
the life of chimney sweeps—the orphaned children that clean the soot out of their owners’
chimneys for approximately fifteen hours a day. Blake seeks to capture the hopelessness of a
chimney sweeper’s life while also providing a light at the end of the tunnel—or chimney—
providing a way out that will one day allow the children to play happily and “shine in the sun”
(16). Blake accomplishes his goal by morphing the dark, hopeless tone into a happier, hopeful
tone through the use of diction, imagery, and symbolism.
The diction of the first three stanzas creates a tone of darkness and hopelessness. The
speaker explains that his father “sold [him] while yet [his] tongue/could scarcely cry,”
immediately causing the reader to recognize not only that the speaker is an orphan, but also the
harsh lives orphans face (2-3). The phrase “in soot I sleep” helps create the gloom and
desperation that reinforces the tone (4). The child has no hope of living a long, happy life due to
the soot in which he sleeps—with each breath his lungs become filled with more and more black
soot, meaning his “coffin of black” looms not far ahead of him (12). Other words, such as

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“died,” (1) “weep,” (3) and “bare” (7) support the dark tone, emphasizing the terrible
hopelessness of the orphan’s situation. The diction instills sorrow in the reader, bringing him to
understand the lost and hopeless tone in the first three stanzas.
While diction molds the dark and hopeless tone, it is within the imagery that the tone’s
foundation lies. Blake incorporates several types of imagery into the poem, such as the auditory
imagery conveyed in the sound “’weep! ’weep! ’weep!” (3). One can almost hear the child’s
cries, which creates a feeling of sadness and understanding in the reader, allowing the reader to
grasp the hopelessness contained in the tone. Visual imagery created by the phrases “in soot I
sleep” (4) and “coffins of black” forms the bleak and dark tone, revealing that the orphan—and
the tone—cannot escape the darkness that is intertwined throughout the poem (12). The visual
imagery created by the shaving of Tom Darce’s head also supports the shadowy tone; Tom loses
his “white hair,” or his innocence, before he has the chance to make mistakes and stain his hair
with the black “soot” of the fallen world (8). In three stanzas the imagery builds the hopeless and
dark tone of the poem.
The symbolism found in the first half of the poem builds upon the dim, bleak tone which
the diction and imagery create. The visual imagery of the shaving of Tom Darce’s “white hair”
symbolizes the boy’s loss of innocence, as well as the loss of his youth (8). This loss of
innocence and youth confirms the hopeless and sorrowful tone—the child has no hope of living
the life of a normal child. The “coffins of black” (12) in which the children are “locked up in”
symbolize the death that overtakes them at a young age, causing the gloomy tone to grow

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steadily darker (11). Symbols such as these work with the diction and imagery to firmly
establish the dark, hopeless tone in the first three stanzas of the poem.
In the last three stanzas of the poem the tone takes an unexpected shift, changing from
dark and futile to happy and hopeful due to the change in the poetic elements, such as diction.
The diction fills the last half of the poem with hope, causing the tone to become more hopeful as
well. In Tom Darce’s dream “an angel who had a bright key/… opened the coffins and set [all
the children] free;” the angel provides both the children and the tone a light, a hope, in the
surrounding darkness (13-14). As the diction grows brighter with words such as “leaping,”
“laughing,” (15) and “shine,” the tone also grows brighter and hopeful (16). The angel tells Tom
that if “he’d be a good boy,/ he’d have God for his father and never want joy,” showing the
reader that even though the situation—and the tone—seem dark, the children still maintain a
hope for a better life, even if that better life is the afterlife (19-20). The children leave their
“bags” and sorrows behind just as the poem leaves the dark, hopeless tone behind (17). The
diction becomes pleasant and bright, and with it the tone of the last three stanzas becomes
hopeful and happy as well.
The imagery in the last half of the poem supports the new, hopeful tone which the diction
creates. The visual image of the boys in “a green plain leaping, laughing,” fills the poem with
joy, leaving behind the despair of the previous tone. Tactile imagery in the poem¸ expressed by
words such as “warm” (23), “wind” (18), and “sun,” (16) allows the reader can feel the warmth
from the sun on his skin and the wind on his “naked” body. The tactile images bring back
memories of youthful play to the reader, along with a feeling of happiness, helping to create the

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new buoyant tone (17). The happy, hopeful tone of the last half of the poem is not completely
free of hopelessness, as a few images resembling the dark, grim tone remain, such as the visual
image of darkness and the tactile image of the “cold” morning (23). Even the rhyme scheme
subtly changes, going from the exact rhyme that runs throughout the poem to near rhyme in lines
17-18 with the words “behind” (17) and “wind” (18), as well as in lines 21-22 with the words
“dark” (21) and “work” (22). This slight change in rhyme, along with the lingering dark images,
hints at the ever-present hopelessness that is now masked by the buoyancy and joy of the new
tone. The reader knows, however, that he “need not fear harm” (24) from the remaining smudge
of dark tone, and the hopeful tone “shines” brightly throughout the last half of the poem (16).
The new tone, full of hope and happiness, overtakes the gloom and sadness of the previous three
stanzas with the help of the optimistic imagery in the last half of the poem.
The last three stanzas also contain symbolism, helping the diction and imagery build up
the new joyous and hopeful tone. The children in Tom Darce’s dream “wash in the river,”
symbolizing baptism and the removal of old and impure things to make room for the new and
clean life they may soon live (16). This baptism provides even more hope and happiness to the
new, joyful tone. The “bright key” (13) that “set [all the children] free” (17) symbolizes the
happy and joyous life the children will obtain once their “bags” and “brushes” (22) are left
behind and they are released from their “coffins of black” (12). Such symbolism provides hope
to both the child and the reader amidst the hopelessness of the situation while morphing the tone
into one full of joy and optimism. Even though there is a slight lingering hopelessness shown
through a few poetic elements, the hopeful and happy tone presented by the symbols, along with

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the changes in diction and imagery, presides over the dark and hopeless tone of the first three
stanzas in the poem.
William Blake cleverly uses poetic elements such as diction, imagery, and symbolism to
successfully shift the tone of “The Chimney Sweeper” from dark and hopeless to happy and
hopeful. This change in tone emphasizes the purpose of the poem, showing the reader that even
though life as a chimney sweep seems dark and hopeless, the children maintain a feeling of hope
as they look forward to the time when an angel will “set them all free” (18). Amidst the darkness
and among the hopelessness shown in the tone of the first three stanzas of the poem, there resides
an overpowering feeling of happiness and hopefulness created by the tone in the last three
stanzas. The differentiation in the tone of William Blake’s poem, “The Chimney Sweepers,”
provides both the reader and the children chimney sweeps a light at the end of the tunnel—a time
when they will “have God for [their] father” (20) and be released from their suffocating “coffins
of black” (12).

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Words Cited
Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed.
Michael Myers. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 912. Print.