Motifs/Themes
This recurring idea represents the purity and vulnerability of the chimney sweep boys.
What is innocence?
The poem is told from this point of view, making the suffering feel more personal and innocent.
What is first person?
The comparison “that curled like a lamb’s back” is an example of this type of figurative language.
What is a simile?
The detail “in soot I sleep” is this general type of imagery because it creates descriptive details about a setting.
What is vivid imagery?
This poem follows AABB for each stanza
What is the rhyme scheme?
This motif is developed through Tom’s dream where the boys run free in a “green plain.”
What is hope?
Because the speaker describes terrible conditions calmly, like “in soot I sleep,” the tone toward the suffering is primarily this.
What is sympathetic?
Tom Dacre's being shaved meant more than just he lost his hair, as it represented the loss of his innocence.
What is symbolism?
The image of “coffins of black” and sooty children creates what kind of imagery?
What is dark imagery?
Each stanza of “The Chimney Sweeper” is made up of four lines and is thus this.
What is a quatrain?
This motif (two words) is shown when the father “sold” the narrator because it shows the bad conditions.
what is child exploitation?
Lines like “‘weep! weep!’” and “Hush, Tom!” are examples of this type of diction.
What are examples of simple or childlike diction?
The repeated cry “weep! weep!” is an example of this sound device that uses repeated words for emphasis.
What is repitition?
The description of the boys “naked & white” to show purity or a "green plain" to frollic in use this technique for developing vivid imagery.
What is color?
This device appears in "locked up in coffins of black" to better create the imagery.
What is assonance?
This motif appears when the Angel uses a “bright key” and when the boys “shine in the Sun.”
What is light?
When the narrator reassures Tom by saying “Hush, Tom! never mind it,” the tone in that moment is best described as this.
What is a comforting/gentle tone?
The line “rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind” turns the boys’ spiritual freedom into a comparison without using “like” or “as.”
What is a metaphor?
The boys running “down a green plain” uses this kind of imagery to create a peaceful, setting in touch with nature. (hint: rural life)
what is pastoral imagery?
The change from “coffins of black” to “green plain” and “shine in the Sun” is an example of this structural move in mood or meaning.
What is a shift/volta?
This motif is expressed in the line “if all do their duty,” showing how children are taught to accept suffering as normal.
By ending with the line “if all do their duty,” Blake creates this subtle device because it sounds positive on the surface but actually criticizes society.
What is irony?
The dream shifts from “coffins of black” to a “green plain,” creating this kind of strong, vivid contrast with a multiple word gap.
What is juxtaposition?
This device is seen in the 5th stanza because it includes many pleasant sounding words like "leaping" and "shine"
What is euphony?
Lines that move quickly with short phrases like “leaping, laughing they run” use this sound effect to speed up the rhythm.
what is alliteration?