To A Mouse On turning her up in her nest with the plough, Nov 1785 Robert Burns Address to a mouse in Scots

Mouse defined as female Uses diminuitives Plight of mouse mirrors his plight not master of own life Stanza 1 Has just overturned the nest with the plough The mouse is running away He doesnt want to kill her Stanza 2 Natures social union the harmony within which nature exists Mans dominion ruins nature me, thy poor, earth-born companion / An' fellow mortal! equating all living things as part of nature all are governed by the laws of mortality Stanzas 3-6 Describes the plight of the mouse Steals but what she steals would hardly be noticed Building nest for bleak December now her house is in ruin, and there is nothing for her to build a new one with everything is barren Stanza 7 Returns to the connection between the poet and the mouse The best-laid schemes o' mice an men Gang aft agley An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promis'd joy! Life has a way of surprising you plans can fail, so even foresight is in vain. Stanza 8 Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee But och! I backward cast my e'e On prospects drear An' forward, tho' I canna see I guess an' fear

The mouse is lucky: only the present can hurt her the poet has the past (painful memories) and the unknown future to fear (insecurity). Burns raises the mouse to man's level 1

Burns own experience is representative of all mankind's. Themes Respect Earth and Its Creatures respect for nature's creatures, especially the small, the defenseless, the downtrodden (or, in this case, the uprooted). Mouse represents common folk who are often tyrannized by the high and the mighty. Foolproof Plans Can Go Awry

Songs of Innocence (1789) & Songs of Experience (1794) - William Blake Innocence & Experience two contrary states of the soul In Songs, Blake opposes examples of innocence and experience from o Natural creation o History o Society Can an individual who is innocent (inexperienced) be truly good, or does the achievement of goodness require experience? But Both perspectives are equally important and inseparable. Juxtaposes o Childhood (untainted, naturalistic world) o Adulthood (corruption and restraint) Speakers disconnect poet from his narratives Songs of Innocence Depict o naivete of children o Hopes o Fears Deliver scathing criticism of society e.g. The Chimney Sweeper The Lamb Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & oer the mead; 2

Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice! Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee Little Lamb Ill tell thee, Little Lamb Ill tell thee! He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek & he is mild, He became a little child: I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by his name. Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God bless thee. The Lamb Form: 2 stanzas, 5 rhyming couplets, plus repetition of last lines Song/chant-like - childlike, lamblike innocence Question: naive and profound tapping into the nature of creation Jesus as The Lamb Traditional image: gentleness, meekness, peace Child = lamb = Jesus More positive aspects of Christianity But God made the lamb, Why did the innocent lamb have to be sacrificed? Cf. The ritual sacrifices of lambs in many of the worlds great religions The Tyger Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 3

And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp! When the stars threw down their spears And waterd heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 6 quatrains in rhyming couplets Regular beat and rhythm = hammering Question: Who created the Tyger? Nature = art, must reflect its creator Perfection: beautiful # destructive Tiger not a chance creation on purpose Raises moral questions Symbolic centre for presence of evil (cf. Industrial Revolution good/evil) Fire creation, purification, destruction Who could / would / dare? o awe at the complexity of creation, o the sheer magnitude of Gods power, o and the inscrutability of divine will Evil cannot be denied, nor can it be explained 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. Setting: 18th century London Selling children into apprenticeships Small children easily manouevre in chimneys

Speaker: 1st person Abandoned: mother died, father sold him Cannot escape his condition, even at night!! weep! weep! weep! weep! Anaphora (repetition of word) Cry of sweeper- advertising job Cry of child due to his bad lot in life thrust into world at such a young age (couldnt even pronounce s) tonguecry metonymy words and tears

So YOUR chimneys Addresses the listener/reader, i.e. society YOU are to blame for possessing a chimney and for the child slave labour!!! Blake places blame on the reader for not stopping this cruelty. 2nd stanza There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curl'd like a lamb's 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." Tom Dacre Individual crying for his loss white like a lambs back simile the lamb (Jesus=Lamb of God; innocence) shaved by whom? Loss of innocence and spirituality Who is to blame for this loss? 3rd stanza 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. Tom consoled by the speakers words only escape in dreams coffins of black confined to darkness in life and death!!!! # white hair Blake widening focus: o Thousands of sweepers, individuals with names o All helpless and hopeless 4th stanza And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open'd the coffins & set them all free; 5

Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun. Optimism? Angel & bright key innocence Liberated from chimneys? life without soot in the countryside? Liberated from life? a perfect day in heaven? Wash off soot / cleanse themselves baptism? Shine cf. White / basking in Gods spiritual rays? Optimism seems hopeless, yet Tom has irrational belief and hopes for happiness Is Tom naive? Is he a child who believes in what he has been taught? 5th stanza 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. Naked & white like a newborn child Bags literally sweep bags / emotional baggage of their short soot-filled experience rise upon clouds resurrected wind free instead of in coffins Being a good boy? Reward: God for father & eternal joy Biblical teaching: o From priests o From society o From slave holder ? 6th stanza 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. Return to reality Awoke: still alive Dark: sun not up Tom awakens happy has been promised eternal rewards if he does his duty No happiness on earth ONLY in death!

The Chimney Sweeper A little black thing among the snow, 6

Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! Where are thy father & mother? Say! They are both gone up to the church to pray.

thing dehumanising person; no human worth Society neglects to view them as children; services, means to an end (clean chimney?) black blackened by the soot, by his experience return to purity/innocence impossible Black spoiling the white snow!! weep not just inability to pronounce s Result of hardships that have led the speaker to maturity Say! child should be with his family, not working!!! To the church Church of England instrument for immoral people to save their souls Sarcasm: boy wise enough to realise that he has been abandoned by parents and society Irony: most pious those who abandoned children 2nd stanza Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winters snow: They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. Heath / snow nature Children are happy, free in nature Because implies that parents believed a child should not be happy clothes of death taught implies that pain/suffering is not natural induced by society!!! 3rd stanza 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. Speaker still a child in many respects enjoys what can be enjoyed They think the parents cannot understand what they have done God & his Priest & King 3 tyrants: - keep the speaker and others in notes of woe Heaven is filled with dutiful sufferers but also their lives are comfortable (heaven) thanks to the black things that slave away (misery)!!! Institutions: religious and social believe they do no harm in exploiting the young They could use their power to improve conditions, but they dont!!! Point of View the speaker - more experienced sense of morbid despair Depicts world of misery, inhumanity and frailty in a much darker, sadder way 7

Social commentary: speaks out against the desolate life into which the sweeps were enslaved/sold/forced. Only the perspective of the speaker has changed. The Sick Rose Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.

A) a rose, infected by worm B) rose symbolises love Worm Biblical serpent, also phallus Worm invisible, destroys at night, in bed Crimson joy

1) Rose symbolises mankind corruption and power are killing it 2) rose is dying of sexually transmitted disease, venereal disease 3) joy of love is tainted by society shameful and must be secret