The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)
Who is the speaker of the poem?
A child
What does the coffin literally representing?
A chimney. They are working insides of their own coffin
What does the poet use to represent the chimneys that the children are in?
A coffin.
What is the tone of the poem?
A sense of optimism, they feel as if even if they have a bad life now that later on if they act right then their lives will get better.
When Blake writes "Then naked and white, all their bags left behind," what is he talking about?
He is talking about the death that they will have when they leave all "bags" behind they will leave all of their worries and sadness on earth.
What does the Angel tell Tom?
He tells Tom that if he is a good boy that he will never lack joy.
What does the last line mean?
If all the children do their jobs they will eventually find a peaceful escape, death.
The children crying "'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!" is an example of what?
Parrallelism. They are crying, and also saying Sweep, connecting the two words because they're miserable sweeping.
What do you find out about the child in the first 4 lines?
That his parents sold him to work as a chimney sweeper.
What does the angel represent?
The angel represents the foolish hope they have of living when they will only have a horrible and most likely short life.
What is the irony of the poem?
Their lives won't get better, they will get worse and their living conditions will affect their health.
What does the character Tom Dacre represent?
Tom represents a lamb and Jesus.
What are some themes of the poem
optimism, naive, ironic, innocence (duh)
