In William Blake’s poem “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence, there is a drastic change in the speaker’s tone caused by a dream. Early in the poem, the speaker appears depressed and miserable, but then later in the poem, the speaker becomes hopeful and much more upbeat. The first two stanzas portray the speaker as miserable and hopeless, the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas describe what caused the speaker and a fellow chimney sweeper’s attitudes to change, and the final stanza presents the speaker and the other chimney sweeper as happy and upbeat. 

The speaker of the poem is quite young but his life has already yielded much suffering and hardship. The poem describes how speaker lost his mother and was sold into slavery as a chimney sweeper by his own father before he, “Could scarcely cry ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’’’” (Line 3). The speaker was sold to become chimney sweeper so young and soon after his mother’s death, that he never even had enough time to properly mourn or heal after such a terrible and devastating loss. The father’s quick decision to sell his own son points to how poor and desperate this family was. The speaker’s life was terrible before his mother passed, but it only got worse after the death of his mother and his father selling him. His role as a chimney sweeper was miserable as well and the speaker admits, “So in your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep” (4). This young boy spends his days crammed inside a filthy chimney trying his best to clean and returns to his bed covered in soot since he doesn’t receive a bath, shower, or any form of cleansing. On top of all the physical suffering associated with being a chimney sweeper, is the emotional pain of his mom dying and his own father selling him away. 

Tom Dacre, a fellow chimney sweeper, has a dream that causes his and the speaker’s attitude to change. In his dream, chimney sweepers were, “locked in coffins of black” (12) to symbolize the awful life of a chimney sweeper. The inside of the chimney, covered in black soot, is like the black coffin where these chimney sweepers will die. But then, an Angel comes and sets all the chimney sweepers free and they, “rise upon the clouds and sport in the wind” (18). After these innocent and young chimney sweepers died from their awful job, an Angel came and took them to Heaven where there will have eternal happiness. Then the Angel tells Tom, “if he’d be a good boy, / He’d have God for his father & never want joy” (19-20). The Angel promises Tom that he will take Tom to heaven like those other chimney sweepers as long as he is a good boy. This dream gave Tom hope, something he never experienced before as a chimney sweeper. He expected to die inside the soot covered chimney and be locked in his black coffin forever. This dream gave Tom proof that there is something better in life than being a chimney sweeper. He finally has hope that things will get better. This newfound hope has given Tom a new purpose in life and that purpose is to be a good boy so the Angel can free him from his black coffin and take him to heaven. Tom then tells the speaker about the dream he just had and he has the same reaction to it as Tom. Like Tom, the speaker is infused with a strong sense of hope and purpose for probably the first time in his life. With a new found purpose, the speaker feels rejuvenated and joyful. Hope is a very powerful emotion and an excellent motivator especially when placed inside a young and depressed child, like the speaker. The speaker never experienced hope when he struggled through poverty, lost his mother at a young age, or when his father sold him away as a chimney sweeper. All it took was Tom’s dream to give the him hope. Hope is strong enough to   help the speaker overcome all the hardship and suffering in his life and focus on being a good boy. 

The speaker’s newfound hope and purpose from hearing about Tom’s dream inspires a drastic change in his tone as evident in the final stanza. Earlier in poem, the speaker appeared depressed due to his miserable life, which included poverty, his mother passing away, his father selling him, and his daily job as a chimney sweeper. Although the speaker’s mom is still dead, his father didn’t bring him back, and he’s still a chimney sweeper, he is happy and upbeat in the final stanza. For the first time in the speaker’s life, he has hope that his life will get better and his new purpose is to work hard and be good boy so he can be rescued from his black coffin and sent to heaven. While it was still dark and cold, Tom and the speaker went to work in the same soot filled chimneys but, “Tom was happy &warm” (23). The hope and purpose Tom gained from his dream allowed him to block out all the suffering and focus on doing his job so he can eventually go to heaven. Outside of Tom’s dream, this is the first time that the speaker mentions any positivity and happiness in his life. The speaker is feeling happiness for the first time in his life because of the hope he gained from Tom’s dream. He is no longer focused on all suffering and pain he has experienced. Instead, he is focused on going to heaven like those other chimney sweepers. The change in the speaker’s tone and attitude is clearly seen by comparing the first line of the poem to the last line of the poem. The speaker begins the poem saying, “When my mother died, I was very young” (1) but ends the poem saying, “So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm” (24). In line one, the speaker is depressed and shows no sign of hope. He has no source of strength or motivation to break free from the pain and suffering in his life, like the death of his mother. But in the final line, hope and optimism has allowed the speaker to overcome all his pain and suffering. He no longer fears death, his job as a chimney sweeper, or suffering because he now knows he can go to heaven if he’s a good boy.

The hope and new purpose the speaker received from Tom’s dream transformed his tone from depressed and miserable to joyful and positive. Early in the poem, the speaker only focused on all the pain and suffering in his life. He showed no signs of happiness in the first two stanzas. But, things changed inside the speaker after hearing about Tom’s dream and how an Angel took the chimney sweepers to heaven. In the final stanza, the speaker is eager to work and doesn’t focus on all the negatives in his life because he knows he can go to heaven. 
