Choose ONE poem that we have read from the schedule and write an essay that discusses how that poem’s literary devices and figures of speech demonstrate its theme. This essay demands that you notice how choices in form (alliteration, assonance, repetition, rhyme, tone, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, understatement, apostrophe, symbol, allegory, allusion, myth, etc.) all communicate the poem’s meaning.
Choosing and using effective quotations and thoughtfully discussing them will be keys to strong support. Be sure to discuss the poem line by line or section by section, working your way through the poem in sequence. Though some paraphrase is often necessary to explain the literal meaning of the lines, don’t stop at paraphrase. Demonstrate how these lines relate to the themes the poem is conveying.
Criteria for Grade:
1. Name the author(s) and the title(s) of the work(s) you are discussing;
2. Present a clear thesis about the work(s) that responds to the question(s);
3. Refer to specific examples in the work(s) in order to support your thesis;
4. Analyze both the work(s)’s form and content while using proper terminology;
5. Correct spelling and grammar.
Format: Typed, double-spaced, ONE inch margins, 12 point font Times New Roman. Length: Approximately 800 words.

The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing among the snowRelated Poem Content Details
BY WILLIAM BLAKE

A little black thing among the snow,
Crying “weep! ‘weep!” in notes of woe!
“Where are thy father and mother? say?”
“They are both 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 notes of woe.

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