THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER
From Songs of Experience
Paraphrase
A little black thing among the snow:
Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!
Where are thy father & mother? say?
They are both gone up to the church to pray.
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Because I was happy upon the heath.
And smil'd among the winters snow:
They clothed me in the clothes of death.
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
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And because I am happy & dance & sing.
They think they have done me no injury:
And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King,
Who made up a heaven of our misery.
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Stanza 1
Stanza 2
Stanza 3
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ANALYSIS
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Alliteration
2. Why do his parents feel “they have done…no
injury” to their son?
Symbolism
“dark things among the snow” (1):
3. How does the child view god, priests, and the
king of England? Why?
Theme
Comprehension and Reflection
Compare/Contrast
1. According to the speaker, why do his parents
feel it is acceptable to force him to become a
chimney sweeper (stanza 2)?
How are the two chimney sweeper poems
different? What accounts for this difference?