“The Chimney Sweeper”

 Who is the speaker of the poem?  The speaker is a chimney sweeper whose mother died when he was 4 or 5. His father sold him to a chimney sweep before he could even talk.

 Rhyming quatrains of anapestic and iambic tetrameter.  1st line of the poem:  When my moth /er died / I was ve /ry young  1 st and 3 rd are u u / (unstressed, unstressed, stressed) which is…  anapest

 When my moth /er died / I was ve /ry young  The 2 nd and 3 rd feet are u / (unstressed, stressed) or…  Iambic  Blake likes to do this in his poems!

 1 st Stanza is…  AA BB  When we have rhyming lines like these, they are called  Couplets  In the sixth stanza, the rhymes are not exact. They are called slant rhymes.

 The first stanza tells the tale of the chimney sweeper.  The second stanza introduces his friend Tom Dacre.  Why does Blake compare Tom’s hair to a lamb?  A lamb is young and innocent like these chimney sweepers. Line 8 – read again. What could it symbolize? Soot = something black and dirty that could corrupt white hair = innocence

 Tom’s vision  Why did Blake use these particular names?  They could be anyone; they are generic names.  Line 12 “Were all of them” what is the purpose of confusing the diction here?  To show that it is a child speaking.  Imagery of line 12 – What is black, and dark that the boys are boxed in now?  Chimneys  Just like a coffin – This could foreshadow their death as well.  Coffins also are a metaphor for their current state of affairs.

 This is more uplifting – an angel arrives with a bright key. This could be allusion to Matthew 16:19 where Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  The last two lines show the children acting as children should.

 First line – What does it symbolize?  Their bag of tools are gone and so is their burden.

 Slant rhyme  Why is he happy to go to work?  He believes if he does his duty he will be free of harm.

 Who is the speaker?  There are two! One is a man who spots the child in the snow, and the other is the child.

 18 th century England; winter

 What is the meter (mostly)?  Iambic tetrameter  Line 6 is a perfect example:  And smil’d / a mong / the win /ter’s snow  But this is Blake so nothing is that simple.

 Line 1  A litt /le black /  What is the meter?  First two are iambs (daDUM)  thing among  Meter?  DA dum - trochee

 And taught - this is a(n)…  Iamb  Me to sing – this is  Anapest  And finally  The notes/of woe  iamb

 In the first like there is an immediate contrast – what is it?  A black thing AND snow  What is the black THING?  Child  What is the rhyme scheme?  AABB – this is called…  Rhyming couplet

 The rhyming couplet makes the poem “sing- songy” like a nursery rhyme but what is the poem about?  Child labor  In lines 3 and 4 it’s dialogue

 What is the rhyme scheme?  CACA  What is the imagery in line 7?  What are the clothes of death?

 What are the parents like? How do we know?  Read lines 11 and 12 again. What do these 2 lines mean?  Who is to blame for his suffering? God, church, and the government