The Chimney Sweeper

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.