Romantic Poetry |

The Chimney Sweeper

Instructions


Read the poem and reflect on the prompts. Relate your thinking to the ideas you have discussed about the contexts affecting Romantic poetry.

The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing among the snow

A little black thing among the snow,
Crying “weep! Weep!” in notes of woe!
“Where are thy father and mother? Say?”
“They are gone up to the church to pray.

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 songs of woe.

And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone up praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery."

William Blake

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