The speaker is a young orphan boy, likely under ten years old, working as a chimney sweeper in 18th-century London. He possesses a pragmatic resilience, having accepted his harsh conditions and the indoctrination of his masters. He acts as a comforting figure to newer, younger sweeps despite his own highly vulnerable position in society.

Tom is a young, newly apprenticed chimney sweeper. He has bright white hair that initially curls like a lamb's back before being forcibly shaved by his masters to prevent soot accumulation. He harbors deep unconscious desires for freedom and parental love, which manifest in a vivid, religiously coded nighttime vision.

This destitute or indifferent man gives his infant son away to a chimney master for money. He represents the breakdown of familial protection and the severe economic pressures driving child exploitation in the city.

She is the late mother of the young chimney sweep. Her premature death initiates the tragedy of her son's life, leaving him defenseless and vulnerable to being sold into dangerous indentured labor by his surviving parent.

A divine messenger who visits Tom's nighttime vision. He carries a bright key to unlock the black coffins trapping the young sweeps, allowing them to wash in a river and ascend to the clouds. He delivers a strict moral condition, promising heavenly reward only in exchange for continuous earthly obedience.

The Christian deity, presented in the poem as an ultimate heavenly father figure. He is offered as the final reward for the suffering boys, but this paternal love remains contingent upon their compliance with their human masters.

A fellow child laborer working in London's chimney sweeping trade. He appears in a dream trapped in a black coffin before experiencing a joyful, temporary liberation on a green plain.

A young chimney sweep in London. He represents the individual children forced into hazardous labor who find momentary escape washing in a pure river within a dream.

One of the many apprenticed child sweepers. He endures the grim reality of the soot-filled chimneys during his waking hours and experiences spiritual release alongside his peers while sleeping.

A child working as a chimney sweep. He participates in the joyful run down the green plain after being released from his symbolic black coffin in the shared vision of freedom.