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When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!' So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved; so I said, ‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head’s bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.' And so he was quiet, and that very night, As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!-- That thousands of sweepers, Deck, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. And by came an angel, who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins, and set them all free; Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. Then naked and white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind; And the angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father, and never want joy. And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm: So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

Who is the narrator of this poem?

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Answer:

The young chimney sweeper.

Step-by-step explanation:

The given lines are from the poem "The Chimney Sweeper" by William Blake in his collection of poems titled "Songs of Innocence". There is also another poem of the same name in his "Songs of Experience", where he describes the life of young boys hired as chimney sweepers.

In the given poem from "Innocence", Blake used the first-person voice to narrate the life of chimney sweepers through the voice or perspective of a young boy. This young boy talks about his own life as a chimney sweeper, "sold" by his own father "while yet [his] tongue could scarcely cry 'weep! weep! weep! weep!'". He also describes another chimney sweeper Tom Dacre and his hair, and the dream that shows an angel comforting them with a bright key that sets them free from their coffins. The whole poem is narrated by the young sweeper.

User Thisiskelvin
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