2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Suggested Responses in Italics
Here are the directions for writing this essay:
The poems below, published in 1789 and 1794, were written by William Blake in response to the condition of
chimney sweeps. Usually small children, sweeps were forced inside chimneys to clean their interiors. Read the
two poems carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, compare and contrast the two poems, taking into
consideration the poetic techniques Blake uses in each.
Analyze the prompt:
What information are you given about the two poems? When were they written, and why were they written?
One was written in 1789, and one was written in 1794. They will be two versions of the same poem, written at
different times. Both poems concern the conditions of chimney sweeps, small children who were forced inside
chimneys to clean their interiors.
The last sentence explains the tasks you must complete. You are to


compare and contrast the two poems
take into consideration the poetic techniques Blake uses in each
Here are some “poetic techniques”:
Diction
Imagery
Figurative Language
Syntax
Details
Tone
Point of View
Sound Devices:
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Onomatopoeia
Rhyme
Meter
Poetic structure (sonnet, ballad, terza rima, etc.)
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Since you obviously cannot address all these techniques in only 40 minutes, your strategy should be to read the
poems and decide on which two or three to write about.
As I read the poems to you, choose two poetic techniques you think will best suit your analysis of these poems.
The Chimney Sweeper
The Chimney Sweeper
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry “‟weep! „weep! ‟weep! ‟weep!”*
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
Line
5
10
15
20
There‟s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl‟d like a lambs back, was shav‟d, so I said,
“Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head‟s bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.”
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them lock‟d up in coffins of black;
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.
Line
5
10
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open‟d the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun;
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he‟d be a good boy,
He‟d have God for his father & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho‟ the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
*The child‟s lisping attempt at the chimney sweep‟s street cry,
“Sweep! Sweep!”
(1789)
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“Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil‟d among the winter‟s snow;
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
“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 make up a heaven of our misery.”
(1794)
2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
What is the main difference you see in the poems? Is the difference in the
Imagery?
Diction?
Point of view?
Tone?
The diction and imagery are very similar. The point of view and tone, however, are vastly different. Students
should choose these two elements to write their essay.
Make notes on the diction and imagery in each poem. Is there a difference in the diction and imagery in each,
or is the diction and imagery about the same?
Line
5
10
The Chimney Sweeper
The Chimney Sweeper
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry “‟weep! „weep! ‟weep! ‟weep!”*
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
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.
There‟s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl‟d like a lambs back, was shav‟d, so I said,
“Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head‟s bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.”
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them lock‟d up in coffins of black;
Line
5
10
“Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil‟d among the winter‟s snow;
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
“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 make up a heaven of our misery.”
(1794)
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
15
20
And he open‟d the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun;
Notes on Diction and Imagery
1789 and 1794:
In both poems, the child cries “„weep.” Both contain simple,
childlike diction because the child is speaking, in all of the
poem in the first poem, and in most of the poem in the second
one. Both refer to God in tones of praise.
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he‟d be a good boy,
He‟d have God for his father & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho‟ the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
*The child‟s lisping attempt at the chimney sweep‟s street cry,
“Sweep! Sweep!”
Both contain contrasting images of darkness and light,
illustrating the dark life of the child vs. the “happy” way the
child perceives his life.
First poem: “in soot I sleep,” Tom has “white hair” that
soot has soiled, in the dream the children are locked up in
“coffins of black,” they become “naked & white,” and Tom
rises in the “dark” to work.
(1789)
Second poem: the child is not called a child by the speaker
but “a little black thing among the snow,” he smiles “among
the winter‟s snow,” but is wearing “clothes of death.”
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Make notes on the point of view (speaker) in each poem. Is there a difference in the point of view in each, or is
the point of view about the same?
Line
5
10
The Chimney Sweeper
The Chimney Sweeper
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry “‟weep! „weep! ‟weep! ‟weep!”*
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
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.
There‟s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl‟d like a lambs back, was shav‟d, so I said,
“Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head‟s bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.”
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them lock‟d up in coffins of black;
Line
5
10
“Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil‟d among the winter‟s snow;
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
“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 make up a heaven of our misery.”
(1794)
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open‟d the coffins & set them all free;
15
20
Notes on Point of View
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun;
1789: This poem is written from the point of view of the
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he‟d be a good boy,
He‟d have God for his father & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho‟ the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
*The child‟s lisping attempt at the chimney sweep‟s street cry,
“Sweep! Sweep!”
(1789)
innocent young boy. His life seems “happy” because he is
too young and naïve to understand that he is living in a hell
upon earth—he has been sold by his father and forced to
work in the dark at a job that will send him to an early grave.
He, on the other hand, views everything that happens to him
as a blessing. For instance, when Tom‟s hair has to be
shaved, the speaker tells him not to fret because now the soot
will not spoil it. He naively believes that if he does as he is
told, he will “not fear harm,” yet he lives in the midst of
harm.
1794: This poem is written from the point of view of an
adult who asks the young boy where his father and mother
are. This adult sees the truth immediately: he is not a young
boy but “a little black thing among the snow.” All but these
three lines are the boy‟s response. This point of view
produces a somewhat cynical tone, as the adult clearly sees
what the child cannot: his parents are praying in the church,
praising not only God but the king, whose neglect is
responsible for the boy‟s harsh life.
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Determine the tone of each poem. Is there a difference in the tone in each, or is the tone about the same?
Line
5
10
The Chimney Sweeper
The Chimney Sweeper
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry “‟weep! „weep! ‟weep! ‟weep!”*
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
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.
There‟s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl‟d like a lambs back, was shav‟d, so I said,
“Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head‟s bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.”
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them lock‟d up in coffins of black;
Line
5
10
“Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil‟d among the winter‟s snow;
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
“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 make up a heaven of our misery.”
(1794)
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open‟d the coffins & set them all free;
15
20
Describe the tone of each poem:
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun;
1789: The tone is innocent and all the more pitiful because of the
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he‟d be a good boy,
He‟d have God for his father & never want joy.
child‟s innocence. He does not blame his father or those who
force him to work. He sees the bright side of everything, when in
fact the dream of the “coffins of black” is a more realistic
description of his life.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho‟ the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
*The child‟s lisping attempt at the chimney sweep‟s street cry,
“Sweep! Sweep!”
(1789)
1794: The tone is quite critical, even condemning, of a social
system that allows parents to pray in church while their children
are sold into slavery. In the last two lines, it‟s not perfectly clear if
the speaker is blaming either “God,” or “his Priest” or the
“King” or all of them, but it is clear that someone is responsible
for the appalling life the child has to live, and hypocrisy is
involved since all these entities should value the lives of innocent
children more than the carrying out of religious exercises.
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Writing the Introductory Paragraph
Now that you have analyzed some poetic techniques, put it all together in your introductory paragraph. Here is
a template to use when you are comparing/contrasting two poems:
Both William Blake poems reflect on the unfortunate lives of young boys who are forced to work as
chimney sweepers. (what the poems have in common).
Yet their (diction, imagery, point of view, tone) point of view and tone are quite different.
Whereas in the first poem, Blake (employs, projects, uses, develops, creates, illustrates, reveals),
employs a speaker who is the innocent young chimney sweeper, producing a tone of naivete,
in the second poem he (employs, projects, uses, develops, creates, illustrates, reveals), reveals the
speaker to be a knowing adult who perceives the hypocrisy in the way society allows these boys to live,
producing a cynical tone.
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Writing Analysis Rather Than Mere Paraphrase
Here‟s what the scoring guide has to say about an “8” or “9” essay:
These essays offer a persuasive comparison/contrast of the two poems and present an insightful analysis
of the relationship between them…in language appropriate to the analysis of poetry.
A well-developed body paragraph always consists of the following three elements:
I.
Assertion: some insight you have about the poems
II.
Textual evidence: quotations and/or paraphrase from the poems
III.
Analysis: explanation of how the author uses poetic techniques (diction, imagery, tone, point of
view, etc.) to create meaning in the poem
Read the following paragraph concerning the second poem. Remember that point of view has to do with the
speakers in the poems.
assertion
textual
evidence
analysis
In the second poem, the adult speaker fully realizes the woeful plight of
the chimney sweep as the boy himself reveals what his life is like.
In the first two lines, the speaker notes the “little black thing among the
snow.” In line 3, he asks him where his parents are. The rest of the poem
is the boy‟s answer. His parents are in church, “prais[ing] God & his
Priest & King.”
The boy‟s response reveals both the boy‟s lack of awareness of his true
condition and the heartless way his parents and the church have ignored
his basic needs. The poem is basically an indictment of the church in
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valuing religious exercises over people‟s lives.
2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Write a paragraph about the point of view in the first poem. Make sure you have all three elements.
assertion
textual
evidence
analysis
The speaker in the first poem is a young boy who, in his innocence and youth, does not
realize how difficult his life is.
The young boy simply narrates that his “father sold” him before he could speak clearly.
He tells Tom Dacre that having his head shaved will really be a blessing, not a hardship.
He further consoles Tom that the dream he has presages a beautiful, glorious life
because they have God for their “father & never want joy.” The poem ends with the
image of the “cold” day, but Tom is “happy & warm” because he is doing what he has
been told to do.
The young boy‟s lack of understanding of his hard lot in life is made all the more pitiful
because he is uncomplaining and accepting of everything that happens to him.
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Read the following paragraph concerning the tone of the first poem.
assertion
textual
evidence
analysis
The fact that the young speaker is totally unaware of how horrendous his
life is creates a tone of naivete and innocence.
The young chimney sweeper could not exist in more bitter circumstances.
He was sold into the chimney sweep profession by his father and began
the arduous work before he could even speak clearly. He sleeps in “soot”
and in “cold” harsh weather, utterly uncared for.
Even though the young boy is forced to work in degrading conditions and
has been abandoned by his father, his belief that “if all do their duty, they
need not fear harm” reveals that he is completely naïve about the “harm”
he is exposed to every day.
Write a paragraph about the tone of the second poem.
assertion
The second poem is scathing, critical, and cynical. The speaker clearly
perceives the harsh conditions the boy lives in, conditions directly caused
by a social system that perpetuates child labor.
textual
evidence
The speaker sees “a little black thing among the snow” and asks him
where his parents are. The child explains that because he was “happy
upon the heath/And smil‟d among the winter‟s snow,” his parents clothed
him “in the clothes of death,/And taught [him] to sing the notes of woe.”
analysis
Since the child comprehends that his parents are to blame, in contrast to
the first poem in which he does not see the truth, the tone is bitter and
critical of the religious and social structure that praises the parents for
going to church yet doesn‟t condemn them for abandoning their child.
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
Here‟s what the scoring guide has to say about essays scoring “3” and “4”:
These lower-half essays fail to offer an adequate analysis of the two poems.
 Analysis may be partial, unconvincing, irrelevant
 Evidence from the poems may be slight or misconstrued
 Essays may rely on paraphrase only
Read the paragraph below.
Label each sentence assertion, textual evidence, or analysis.
Every sentence is textual evidence, either quotations or paraphrase. There is no assertion, no analysis. This
paragraph merely sums up what the poems are saying. If the whole essay went on like this, the score,
according to the scoring guide, could not be higher than a “4.”
1.___________In the first poem, a young speaker relates that his mother is dead and
his father sold him to become a chimney sweep. 2._________________He is very young
because he can hardly speak as he cries out the chimney sweep‟s street cry, “weep! „weep!
„weep! „weep!” 3.___________________He comforts Tom Dacre that being a good boy
will have positive consequences: “He‟d have God for his father & never want joy.”
________________________4. The second poem has a different speaker—not the young
boy but someone asking him, “Where are thy father & mother?” ___________________
5. The rest of the poem is the young boy‟s reply as he tells the speaker about his difficult
life, wearing his “clothes of death” and singing “the notes of woe.”
___________________6. The poem‟s last quatrain explains that because the boy seems
“happy,” his parents feel free to abandon him while they “praise God & his Priest & King.”
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2005 AP Literature Exam
William Blake Chimney Sweeper Poems
PRESENTER NOTES
What is dramatic irony?
Dramatic irony is a disparity of expression and awareness: when words and
actions possess a significance that the listener or audience understands, but the
speaker or character does not.
Presenters: You will probably have run out of time at this point in the lesson. It seems a shame, though, to omit
a discussion of dramatic irony, since the first poem is a classic example of the device.
In which poem does dramatic irony occur? The first one
Explain the disparity between what the audience understands but the speaker in the poem does
not. The child, in his innocence and naivete, does not perceive his harsh circumstances or the fact
that his parents are to blame. The audience, however, completely understands that his father has sold
him into slavery to toil at a job that will cause him great suffering and an early death.
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