One student's analysis of the Chimney Sweeper, the Introduction and The Shepherd

The Chimney Sweeper:

The chimney sweeper is a poem which shares a story from the perspective of what seems to be a child who is a chimney sweeper. It addresses the tragedy of young children being sold due to their small size and in turn ability to sweep chimney efficiently in the early past of London. It highlights the innocence of the children as it is detailed that Tom, perhaps a friend of the speaker of the poem, has his head shaved and as a result cries. As this is detailed the comparison is made of Tom to a lamb: ‘curl’d like lambs back’. This is one of many references by Blake to Lambs throughout his poems as a lamb is typically seen as a symbol of sacrifice particularly within religion. Of course the lamb cannot defend itself which in turn reflects its innocence. Furthermore it has committed no sin to deserve to be sacrificed. We later see Blake compare the discussed chimney sweeping children to Lambs yet again: ‘naked and white’. I believe the end of the poem seems to suggest that death is perhaps a better option for the children forced to perform manual labor as the last two stanzas seem to detail their journey to heaven: ‘he’d have God for his father and never want joy’.

Introduction:

The first poem within the songs of innocence is yet again one which clearly reflects the theme of innocence. We see references to children, lambs and general references to feelings of happiness and joy, these being directly related to innocence. We see Blake describe water as ‘clear’. This adjective connotes purity as it insinuates that the water is in its purest form, having not been in any way polluted of affected from its natural state. The continual references to ‘pipes’ is perhaps in connection with the myth of the greek god Pan. This is as this god is associated with playing a pipe in the countryside spreading joy. Again relating to innocence. \=

The Shepherd:

The shepherd is another poem with which posseses religious context. The poem details the shepherd’s dedication to his sheep, much like several quotes from john 10:11 detail. Furthermore this position of course directly relates to sheep, a recurring symbol throughout the songs of innocence, as well as a direct reflection of innocence. Quotes from john 10:14 also detail a shepherd’s awareness of his sheep, as does this example of Blake’s poetry: ‘He is watchful while they are in peace.’ Perhaps this is due to Blake’s spiritualist background and belief in God, although not in a conventional Christian sense. We see Blake describe the Lambs of the poem as innocent also: ‘the lambs innocent call’. 

Blake’s ‘Clod and the Pebble’: is love unselfish (the Clod) or selfish (the Pebble)?

Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.

So sang a little Clod of Clay
Trodden with the cattles feet;
But a Pebble of the brook,
Warbled out these metres meet.

Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight:
Joys in another’s loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite.

You can compare different versions of the poems here.

Essay titles for 13c En

Essays – Deadline Friday 11^th October

 

 

Liam:

Using these poems: Holy Thursday, the Songs of Experience and Innocence, discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience.

 

Poppy:

Using these poems: A Cradle Song and the Poison Tree; A Dream and The Angel, discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience.

 

Meaghan:

Using these poems: The Sick Rose, Pretty Rose Tree, Ah Sunflower, The Lilly; Blossom; Spring, discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience

 

Ellena:

Using these poems: The Lamb and The Tyger and two other poems of your choice, discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience

 

Harry:

Using these poems: The Chimney Sweeper poems (both Innocence and Experience) discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience.

 

Alice:

Using these poems: The Ecchoing Green and The Garden of Love and two other relevant poems;  discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience

 

Tiffany:

Using these poems:  The Laughing Song, Infant Joy and Infant Sorrow discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience

 

Danielle:

Using these poems: On Anothers Sorrow, The Divine Image, The Human Abstract discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience.

 

Matthew:

Using these poems: The Little Boy Lost and Found (Innocence) The School Boy;  discuss the ways in which Blake represents both the worlds of innocence and experience.

 

A student's analysis of London

Analysis of ‘London’

Throughout the poem ‘London’, Blake portrays London as a very unforgiving, ruthless city, both through the use of the tone he deploys, and the use of both nouns and verbs connoting sadness and woe. Blake deploys a very mechanical rhythm and regimented tone through the repetition of ‘harsh’ consonants, like the ‘w’ and ‘ch’ sounds in the opening line ‘I wander thro’ each charter’d street’. When read aloud, there is a continuous beat, almost like a drumming, that creates the industrial aspect of London, which juxtaposes the use of nouns in the first stanza like ‘weakness’ and ‘woe’, as the tone of the poem portrays London as the binary opposite of this. This is also similarly seen in The Handmaids Tale, where Atwood deploys the use of asyndetic listing in Chapter 21 when the Handmaids are chanting for Janine to push the baby out. The adjectives used in this style of listing such as ‘Breathe. Pant. Push. Push’ create a semantic field of soldiering, which is seen throughout the novel, and also creates a regimented style and an almost drumming rhythm. This relates to what is almost the whole essence of the book, and how oppressive and regimented the regime actually is.

The use of the verbs ‘sigh’, ‘tear’ and ‘cry’ create a semantic field of sadness and portray a depressing, negative tone and view of London.  The verb ‘sigh’ in particular is almost onomatopoeic, as when read aloud the reader’s voice instinctively creates a ‘sigh’ sound. This, once again, supports the interpretation that Blake is creating a miserable, gloomy tone. The opening sentence of the second stanza ‘How the chimney-sweepers cry’ creates imagery in the audiences imagination of an industrialised world, which combined with the alliteration of ‘chimney’ and ‘cry’, emphasizes the way that London has weakened these workers. In context, Blake is actually describing the work of very young boys at that time period, at the age of only four or five. However, it is important as the reader to realise that this was socially acceptable at the time, and may not be Blake’s criticism of London at all.

However, the poem could be seen to be a depressive view on the capitalist nature of society. The tone of the poem is at times biblical, as Blake writes ‘Every blackning church appalls’, reflecting his strong interest in religion. The use of the verb ‘appalls’ also shows how the churches, and in turn religion, are disgusted at the city, which may be a metaphor for their dismay at society. It is as if the speaker is offering a prophesy of the terrible consequences unless changes are made in the city. This is supported by imagery such as ‘blood down Palace walls’, which contrasts the noun ‘blood’, which connotes death and horror, with the proper noun ‘Palace’, which connotes a sense of regal and power. These two opposites create a confused tone for the reader, which therefore could be reflecting Blake’s confusion at the culture and society he was living in.

The poem ends with a startling contrast in the language chosen- "marriage hearse". To Blake, marriage should be a celebration of love and the beginning of new life. Yet here it is combined with the noun "hearse" - a vehicle associated with funerals. This is giving a sense, to the speaker of the poem, that the future brings nothing but death and decay. This contradictory phrase supports the rest of the poem, which expresses Blake’s negative view of humanity and society, which develops, essentially, a strong political argument throughout. This view of humanity is similar to The Handmaids Tale, in the sense that Offred uses her narrative voice to present a world with no hope or aspiration, and deploys an almost exhausted frame of mind, that has given up trying to rebel against the regime, that will be there in the future.

A student’s analysis of ‘Spring’, ‘Blossom’, ‘The Laughing Song’ and ‘The Fly’

Spring

Spring is a poem that is used to “welcome in the year”, the fact that the poem is written in spring time makes the reader think that Blake’s new year starts in the spring time and that his new year is when nature is remade and renewed, it’s when nature starts it’s new life when Blake celebrates his new year. At the time the romantic poets led a movement to celebrate nature and natural environments and felt that nature embodied the human imagination, this could be why Blake celebrates his new year in the spring time because as a poet he feels that nature is key to his imagination and creation, this makes the poems key meaning more clear, as they celebrate nature the biggest celebration would come when nature starts its new cycle of life.

The Laughing Song

This poem describes all the different ‘laughter’ of nature and its surroundings, for example the woods, stream, air, hills, and meadow are each said to laugh just by being there, maybe the different sounds made by them are their way of laughing for example the stream trickling and the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees that make up the wood.

Blossom

This is another one of Blake’s poems that describes nature and life. It is full of many cheerful images such as “leaves so green” and “happy blossom”, this is representative of Blake’s view on nature, he sees it as key to life and something to cheer people up. This poem tells a story of two different birds and their experiences with their lives, the first a sparrow, who is content with its living and the surroundings it’s in, the other is of a robin, who is distressed in its existence, this makes the second stanza full of negativity. The two birds could be representing two classes of Blake’s time, the first a upper-ruling class who is content with itself, and a lower, poorer class who sees no meaning to their life and lives under the upper classes.

The Fly

The poem is told in a voice of mindlessness. The poem sees the narrator, being the fly, go from its thoughtless state to one of realization and mindfulness. It leads to the ending of “Then am I a happy fly, if I live, or if I die”, this makes the fly aware that can it really be happy and careless as it once was even if it dies, how the fly comes to this conclusion as the poem goes on is amazing because of how it comes to the quick conclusion it takes many to come to for an age.

A student’s analysis of ‘A Dream’ and ‘London’

A Dream- William Blake

Taken from ‘Songs of Innocence’, the poem by William Blake ‘A Dream’ you see a man who left home, then finds his way home. However is also possible that he had found his way to some form of heavenly home, which is a recurring theme in Blake’s poems such as ‘The Chimney Sweep’. The tone of this poem seems to be very dark and gives the very strong image of someone being lost, as a reader you feel fairly sympathetic for towards character especially as the start of the fourth stanza; ‘I dropped a tear’ and when the rhetoric question ‘do they hear their father sigh?’. Both of these quotes also suggest that the traveller isn’t away from home out of choice and thus creates further sympathy. The tone of the poem put further emphasis on the point that the traveller may have found some form of heavenly sanction rather than finding his way back to his actual home.

London- William Blake

This poem was taken from William Blake’s writings in ‘Songs of Experience’ and basically speaks about the division between rich and poor, he especially puts emphasis on the misery of the poor people. Blake focuses mostly on pain and misery throughout this poem through lines such as ‘in every infants cry of fear’ which presents a certain amount of imagery for the reader, and may make them quite uncomfortable. This feeling is kept up through the whole poem and shows that Blake wants to show the city of London at its worst and shows his dislike for the way people were having to live during that time.

First thoughts on reading Blake: my classes’s response to innocently reading him…

Posted on September 12, 2013

Today, the William Blake project began in earnest with my Year 13 classes reading all the poems in groups together. I asked them to read them all at a go, without lingering too long over what they are about. The whole point was that they would get an overview of the poems.

I introduced the poems today by getting the students to sit in my “poetry circle” which some seemed excited about! I talked about how I appeared on Radio London this morning talking about a letter a number of experts have written about the need to raise the formal schooling age to 7. Their remarks tie in a great deal with what William Blake thought: he believed that children learnt through play, that it was through play and being creative that children learnt, that it is not a “bolt-on extra” to learning but absolutely integral to the learning process. I spoke on the Radio London breakfast show defending their approach, saying that if learning is too formal at an early age, then children can become like “robots”, programmed to learn but without creativity.

He wrote in The School Boy:

But to go to school in a summer morn, O! it drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day, In sighing and dismay.

Ah! then at times I drooping sit, And spend many an anxious hour, Nor in my book can I take delight, Nor sit in learnings bower, Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy, Sit in a cage and sing. How can a child when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring.

The task of reading all the poems through in a group without teacher commentary/intervention is not a “traditional”, “upfront” teaching approach; I suppose some teachers would immediately start reading and analysing the poems as a whole class, without giving classes a chance to read the poems for themselves. Or possibly getting them to read them for homework by themselves. Reading them together in a group for the first time is possibly a different approach; one that immediately invites communal discussion.

However, many teachers would do what I am doing; encourage independent reading skills and a sense of independent inquiry.

As I listened to the groups, I could hear a degree of laughter and enjoyment as they read the poems; the lexis is not difficult and the poems have an easy, lilting music. The rhythms of Blake’s words really came through for me. I heard one student saying, “I quite like that one!”.

It was strange listening to the words I know so well mouthed by unfamiliar voices, but also invigorating; it made me see these poems in a new light. They live in the mouths of young people.

Here is one response from a student which is illuminating:

“I found William Blake’s Songs of Innocence thoroughly enjoyable and pleasant when reading them in todays English lesson. The majority of poems in this collection included an obvious rhyming scheme that continued throughout, making the poems easy to read and far more entertaining. A theme throughout all of the poems in Songs of Innocence was religion, whether this was a direct address to religion or a subtle undertone running continuously through the poems. The poems were written in a period of history when religion was a major part of everyone’s lives. The poems contained within Songs of Innocence are all relatively short and sweet, a lot revolving around children – this is due to the fact that children are often associated with innocence.”