THE SCHOOL BOY
William Blake
How do you feel about school?
Knowledge
happy
School
fun
homework
To be your true self
Group work: Adjectives to describe a
school boy
?
?
?
School
boy
?
?
Summary
Describe a school boy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
William Blake



William Blake was the son of a London hosier. The boy
never went to school. He picked up his education as well
as he could. His favorite studies in early days were
Shakespeare, Milton and Chatterlon.
At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to James Basier,
an engraver. After leaving him, Blake began to earn his
living as an engraver of illustrations for various
publishers.
At the age of 24, Blake married Catherine Boucher, an
illiterate girl. Blake taught her to read and Catherine
helped him in engraving. Catharine proved to be an
excellent wife, sympathizing with his work and sharing in
it.


Blake lived a life of seclusion and poverty. He was often
misunderstood by other people, who would regard him
as gifted but mad. Blake’s last years found him chiefly
concerned with painting and engraving. And he gradually
gathered around him a small group of devoted young
admirers. However, Blake’s genius in poetry remained
unknown in his life time; he was recognized only
posthumously.
William Blake was a transitional figure in British literature.
He was the one of the first writers of the "Romantic
Period." Before this period, most writers, such as
Alexander Pope, wrote more for form instead of for
content. Blake, on the other hand, turned back to
Elizabethan and early seventeenth-century poets, and
other eighteenth- century poets outside the tradition of
Pope.
William Blake’s Major Works


“Songs of Innocence” (1789) and “ Songs of
Experience” ( 1794):
The best of Blake's short poems is to be found in
these two little collections of lyrics. “Songs of
Innocence” contain poems which were apparently
written for children. Using a language which even
little babies can learn by heart, Blake succeeded in
depicting the happy condition of a child before it
knows anything about pains of existence. The poet
expresses his delight in the sun, the hills, the
streams, the insects and the flowers, in the
innocence of the child and of the lamb. Here
everything seems to be in harmony.
The School Boy is a poem from Songs of
Innocence

In “Songs of Experience”, a much maturer work.
entirely different themes are to be found, for in this
collection of poems the poet drew pictures of
neediness and distress and showed the sufferings of
the miserable. The will to freedom must endure, for
a time, the limitations of worldly experience, and
salvation is said to come through passion; the revolt,
through revolution. The poet was conscious of some
blind hand crushing the life of man, as man crushes
the fly.
The school boy from Songs of
Innocence


Listen to the poem and draw a picture with
major images.
Be creative and present the major messages
from the poem
Create Gallery




Put all the drawings on the wall.
Put smile stickers on the drawing you love
best.
List all the images from the drawings on the
whiteboard.
Invite students to explain why these images
are chosen by them.
Individual work (5 minutes)



Annotate the poem
Consult a dictionary for new words.
Write down your thoughts evoked by the
poem.
Group work




Each group work together to analyze the ideas and
insights of the poem and interpret the poem. Use
the TPCASTT Poem analysis handouts and
example worksheet.
Find evidence from the lines to support their
analysis.
Choose one group member to take notes and write
down all the ideas being discussed by group
members.
Choose a spokesperson to give a 3 minute
presentation to analyze the poem after the
discussion.
Presentations



Take notes of the ideas being explored by
each group.
Put ideas into ideas map
Class discussion
Themes




Group work: Categorize themes explored in
the poem and write them on the charter paper.
Create a theme word map
Which theme touches you most? Discuss.
Homework 1: Write down a theme analysis
paragraph.
Cultural connection

Video: American students’ life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ofzucjzp
ao
Debating topic:
Chinese/ American school system is better
for students’ future.
Homework 2

Write a journal about how you feel about
school life. If you are the principal, what will
you change and what will you improve?
EXIT SLIP



What have you learned today?
Is there any theme you want to be discussed
more next class?
Any questions?