The Issue of Chimney Boys in English Literature

According to Wikipedia, a chimney sweeper is a person who clears ash and soot from chimneys. This sweeping job is actually done by the master sweep, but since adults cannot go up to the chimneys (because there is a high chance that they would be stuck up there), in England they use apprentices who are taken from workhouses (which is a place that families who cannot support themselves stayed), orphan kids that have no parents, or again children of poor families who sold their children to these master sweeps to get money. Since these apprentices have to climb up such narrow places, they were preferably small children. They could even be three or four years old, but that does not mean they weren’t stuck in the chimneys. If they are not agile enough, or not skilled enough, they would end up stuck in the chimneys, suffocate and if not saved by people, die horrendously. Most of the masters would “check up” on them by lighting a fire under their feet to prevent the children from skipping their work. Of course, that means if the child is stuck in the chimney they could die from suffocating. If they are already dead and the owner of the house is feeling generous enough, they would remove the bricks to get the body out.

This horrible truth about the job (if you can call this a job, it is more like child abuse) finds a place in the works of literature. The first one that came up to mind is William Blake’s poem titled “The Chimney Sweeper”. He has two poems with the same title, one of them is from “Songs of Innocence” and the other one is from “Songs of Experience”. “The Chimney Sweeper” from “Songs of Innocence” starts with a child whose mother is dead and is sold by his father to a chimney sweeper when he cannot even properly cry. We see how young these chimney boys are. They are sold to their masters by their parents, who are normally the first people that have to protect them. They cry themselves to sleep in soot at an age they should play with their friends, and this child sees his friends in black coffins. This job is so dangerous, especially for their age, and William Blake emphasizes that through the black coffins of children. They can only find happiness in their dreams or after their death.

The second poem of William Blake is “Songs of Experience”. Like I said before, it is also named “The Chimney Sweeper”, but this time the poem heavily criticizes the families of these children and the church as an institution that represents God on earth. Blake criticizes the fact that these children were sent to their death by parents and whilst they were working in such a job, on the verge of dying, the families go to church and pray. The church would shush these families and take money without actually helping these people. They were promised heaven after death since they are suffering on earth, but their children are lying deep in soot. These children need protection, they need their family; they need to be nurtured. Neither families nor the state can provide this to these children. They are stuck in the chimneys with their knees under their chin, and the church only feeds them with dreams of heaven they will get after their death. The image of a lonely child, without his parents to protect him, and nurture him emphasizes the fact that something is wrong with the social institutions that need to help people in need, and in this case, it is the church that is criticized for its lack of function. 

Another literary work in which we see the hard conditions of chimney boys is Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Oliver is an orphan staying at a workhouse. In workhouses, they do not give them enough food. Since he is hungry he wants another basin of gruel in a very respectful manner. The master was furious because of Oliver’s so-called “rebellion” and blows at his head with a ladle. Later on, the workhouse confines him and pasted a bill to offer Oliver any man or woman who needs an apprentice and Mr. Gamfield is a chimney-sweeper that wants to take Oliver. The conversation between Mr. Gamfield and the people who are responsible for Oliver’s “employment” shows the horrible conditions these boys are living in:

’Young boys have been smothered in chimneys, before now,’ said another gentleman.

‘That’s acause they damped the straw afore they lit it in the chimbley to make ‘em come down again,’ said Gamfield; ‘that’s all smoke, and no blaze; vereas smoke ain’t o’no use at all in makin’ a boy come down; it only sinds him to sleep, and that’s wot he likes. Boys is wery obstinit, and wery lazy, gen’lm’n, and there’s nothink like a good hot blaze to make ‘em come down vith a run; it’s humane too, gen’lm’n, acause, even if they’ve stuck in the chimbley, roastin’ their feet makes ‘em struggle to hextricate theirselves.’

So, according to this man, blazing a child’s feet is a way to prevent him from slacking the job, and also it is humane too because if this child is stuck in the chimney, with the pain in his feet, he would extricate himself whilst writhing in misery. This man also “bruised three or four boys to death” and the board actually considers giving Oliver to him. Later on in the book, Oliver begs the board to not give him to that man, he even says that they can beat him, or even kill him rather than send him away. The helplessness of this child is just so bad, there is no one, not even the state, that can provide him with a safe place; so he begs for his life. This passage not only shows the chimney boys’ sufferings but also the state’s inefficiency to provide a safe place that can nurture its people. 

All these poems and books show us the impact of this historical reality. We clearly see how much pain they were in while they were working, and how cruel the world they were living in was. Through literature, their pain becomes so real that we feel it in our hearts. 

Works Cited

Brain, Jessica. Historic UK: Chimney Sweeps and Climbing Boys. 7 April 2021. Available at: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/History-Boy-Chimney-Sweep/

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Penguin Classics, 2003.