Poetry-AG

__Unit Poetry__
Strategy from Atwell: =The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young= By [| William Blake] 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.
 * 1) Have the students read the poem individual
 * 2) Read the poem aloud to the class
 * 3) separate into groups and discuss
 * how the poem makes you feel
 * what is your favorite part
 * what do you notice
 * how does the poet feel
 * why is the poet writing
 * how else could this poem be titled
 * what is the poem saying
 * what lines trigger your senses
 * what lines confuse you
 * are there metaphors
 * what is the most important line in the poem
 * how does this poem relate to the industrial revolution
 * 1) Write a collaborative poem in response to original poem

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, 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 locked up in coffins of black;

And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened 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. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm; So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.