William Blake
Close reading activities
The Little Vagabond
Dear Mother, dear Mother, the __________ is cold.
But the __________–house is healthy and pleasant and warm:
Besides I can tell where I am used well.
Such usage in heaven will never do well.
But if at the __________ they would give us some __________ ,
And a pleasant fire, our souls to regale :
We’d sing and we’d pray all the live-long day:
Nor ever once wish from the __________ to stray.
Then the Parson might preach and drink and sing,
And we’d be as happy as birds in the spring:
And modest dame Lurch, who is always at __________ ,
Would not have bandy children nor fasting nor birch.
And God like a father rejoicing to see,
His children as pleasant and happy as he:
Would have no more quarrel with the Devil or the Barrel
But kiss him and give him both drink and apparel.
1.
Replace the blank spaces above with words that make sense in the
context of the poem. Only two words are needed.
2.
What comparisons are being made in the poem?
3.
What ‘advice’ is being given by the little vagabond?
4.
Highlight all the words that are attractive. What do you notice about
your highlighted text?
5.
What point do you think Blake is making in this poem?
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William Blake
Close reading activities
The Fly Little Fly Thy summers play, My thoughtless hand Has brush’d away.
Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me?
For I dance And drink and sing: Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life And strength and breath: And the want Of thought is death; Then
am I A happy fly, If I live, Or if I die.
Above you will see a poem arranged in sentences. Write out the poem as you think it
originally appeared – don’t forget the title.
What do you notice about the rhyme scheme? Although the poem is very simple,
what thoughts do you notice that might be considered profound?
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William Blake
Close reading activities
The Schoolboy
I love to ____________ in a summer morn,
When the birds ____________ on every tree;
The distant huntsman ____________ his horn,
And the sky-lark ____________ with me.
O! what sweet company.
But to ____________ to school in a summer morn,
O! it ____________ all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day,
In ____________ and dismay.
Ah! then at times I drooping ____________
And ____________ many an anxious hour,
Nor in my book can I ____________ delight,
Nor ____________ in learning’s bower,
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.
How can the bird that is ____________for joy,
____________ in a cage and ____________
How ____________ a child when fears annoy,
But ____________ his tender wing,
And ____________ his youthful spring.
O! father and mother, if buds are ____________
And blossoms ____________ away,
And if the tender plants are ____________
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and cares dismay, –
How ____________ the summer ____________ in joy
Or the summer fruits ____________ ?
Or how ____________ we ____________ what griefs ____________
Or ____________ the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter ____________ ?
Fill in the highlighted spaces with appropriate verbs chosen from the list below.
appear appear arise bless blown born can destroy drives droop
forget gather go nipped rise shall shall sighing sing sing sings
sit sit sit spend stripped take winds
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William Blake
Close reading activities
Songs of Innocence and Experience Activity
Below is an immersed text. You have to recover the original text (‘The Garden of
Love’) from the surrounding writing.
One cold Wednesday morning, I went back to the garden to pick some roses. It
was a labour of love for it was my turn on the flower arranging rota. As I glanced
over the wall I stopped, and saw what I never had seen before. A new chapel was
being built in the midst of the village, where I used to play on the green. It was an
uninviting building and the gates of this chapel were shut, and ‘Thou shalt not enter
Paradise’ was writ over the door. So I turn’d to the garden of love that so many
sweet flowers bore, intending to continue picking my roses, but it had changed, and
I saw it was filled with graves, and tomb-stones where flowers should be. It was a
horrible shock and I thought I must be having a bad dream. I wanted to escape
but the walls had grown high and priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
and they were binding with briars, my joys and desires. It was impossible to leave,
but I felt it was death to stay.
Now here is an original text which you need to immerse, in such a way that it will be
hard for a reader to spot the joins. You must keep the original text in exactly the
same order, but you may change the punctuation and add words of your own
wherever you wish. You do not need to include the title.
A Poison Tree
I
I
I
I
was
told
was
told
angry with my friend:
my wrath, my wrath did end.
angry with my foe:
it not, my wrath did grow.
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
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