Poem - The Chimney Sweeper

1. THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER (SONGS OF INNOCENCE) BY WILLIAM BLAKE

2. GROUP MEMBERS : TAN VI LER YOUNG POH PING TING NGIIK YING YII WAN JIUN

3. BACKGROUND OF POET

4. William Blake

5. BRIEF OVERVIEW

6. Literary devices

7. Symbolism

8. Metaphor As Tom was a-sleeping Tom was having a moment of peace, disconnected for a while with the real and chaotic world.

9. Simile Comparing the curly hair of Tom with the back of a lamb. Both of the two objects share the same form (the back of a lamb is compound by lots of curls which are curved in shape). That curl’d like a lamb’s back

10. Alliteration Alliteration of words beginning with the letter ‘s’ Makes the words sound fun and energetic. So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep As Tom was a sleeping he had such a sight

11. Repetition Example : could scarcely cry “ weep! weep! weep! weep! ” Cry of a young child when his mother passed away and he was being sold by his father.

12. “cry weep, weep ,weep, weep” deepen the impression of the mother's death and the crying chimney sweeper. “So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep” represent the sound like a brush repetitiously scraping a chimney wall. “Then down a green plain leaping, laughing , they run” represent happiness and joyfulness Onomatopoeia

13. TONE AND MOOD

14. MOOD Melancholic I feel sympathy towards the tribulation faced by the children at that time.

15. TONES

16. THEMES

17. Theme of Innocence Represented by Tom and other sweepers. They are unaware of the oppression. They believe that if they are obedient and do their duty, everything will be well. Tom tends to dream that other sweepers are being locked in black coffins but an Angel succeeds to set them free .

18. Theme of Social Injustice The issues highlighted in this poem are about child labours and how young children of low social status are put in dangerous situations to help their families. These issues clearly show social injustice in Western country at that time.