The Poems of William Blake

The Chimney Sweeper

What is the symbolic significance of the angel's opening the coffins and setting the boys free? What are they described in lines 17-18 as "ris[ing] upon the clouds, and sport[ing] in the wind"?

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The imagery is gentle and divinatory. The speaker dreams that an angel shows up with a "bright key"; this is an allusion to Matthew 16:19 where Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In this line, angels are freeing the children from their coffins. The angels are freeing the children from their life of servitude.

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