Teaching Academic Writing through Literature

John Schilb, co-author ofMaking Literature Matter, Fifth Ed.

Elements of Argument

When you argue, you attempt to persuade an audience to accept your claims, regarding an issue by presenting evidence and relying on warrants

PersuadeAudienceClaimIssueEvidenceWarrants

“The Chimney Sweeper”William Blake

When my mother died I was very youngAnd my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry, “’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!”So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his headThat 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;

“The Chimney Sweeper”William Blake

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 a father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the darkAnd 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.

An

Obvious

Thesis

The poem’s speaker and the

other boys he refers to have a

hard life, because they must do

the dirty work of chimney

sweeping even though they are

just youths who would, like most

children, prefer to play instead.

A Better

Sample

Opening

The casual reader of William Blake’s “The Chimney

Sweeper” may not notice that among the repeated words

in the poem is “father.” In the second line, the speaker

tells us that “my father sold me,” and when he later

reports Tom’s dream to us, he says that the Angel

promised Tom that “good” behavior would result in

Tom’s having “God for his father.” Why does Blake

repeat this word? Different readers of the poem may

have different answers, but the most plausible one is

that Blake wishes to emphasize something about the

speaker’s state of mind. Clearly the speaker joins Tom

in relying on the image of a heavenly father, but Blake

also implies that the speaker looks to God in

compensation for his earthly father’s desertion of him.

At the same time, Blake suggests, this desertion has left

the speaker to become a father figure to his young co-

workers, even though he cannot powerfully perform this

role because he is just a child needing parental guidance

himself.

How To Get Beyond the Obvious

Identify an issuea question with no obvious, immediate answerhow we answer it is important for our understanding of the text

Establish a claimyour debatable answer to that question

Issues of FactIssues of ThemeIssues of DefinitionIssues of SymbolismIssues of PatternIssues of Cause and

Effect

Issues of EvaluationIssues of GenreIssues of Historical

and Social ContextIssues of Social

Policy

Kinds of Issues

A possibly insignificant issue of fact:

Exactly how old is the speaker?

A possibly significant issue of fact:

How accurately does the speaker report what Tom said about the dream?

• A possible claim:

Although probably the speaker does

not extremely distort what Tom said,

he seems anxious to summarize and

interpret the dream in a way that will

comfort himself.

Issues of Fact

A too-detectable theme:

So if all do their duty, they

need not fear harm.

Possible themes:

Child laborers are likely to suffer harm when social institutions encourage them to believe that obeying their employers is what will keep them safe.

Improving terrible labor conditions can be especially difficult when workers believe they must accept their lot.

Issues of Theme

Issues of Definition

When my mother died I was very youngAnd my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry, “ ’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!”So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his headThat 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;

Issues of Definition

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 a father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the darkAnd 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.

Possible Claims of Definition

Although the speaker refers to literal acts of “sleeping,” he also “sleeps” metaphorically, in the sense that he lacks sufficient consciousness to analyze and fight the social conditions that oppress him.

Both Tom and the speaker imagine being “free” in the sense of being able to cavort leisurely in heaven, but as children they are unable to imagine or strive for the earthly “freedom” that would involve liberating all youths from harsh labor.

Both Tom and the speaker imagine being literally “washed” in a heavenly river, but as children on earth they suffer from their “clean” minds, being so naïve, pure, and innocent that they cannot see how corrupt their society is.

Issues and Claims of Symbolism

An issue and claim of symbolism:

What is the significance of Tom’s head being compared to “a lamb’s back”?

The New Testament and other Christian texts associate Jesus with a sacrificial lamb. Tom does not seem saintly, but like Jesus he does undergo sacrifice, in the sense that the elders of his society make him toil in its physical maintenance rather than let him enjoy childhood.

• FORMAL STRUCTURES (E .G. , STANZAS,

RHYME SCHEMES)

• REPETITIONS

• WORDS SIMILAR IN MEANING OR SOUND

• OPPOSITIONS

• BREAKS FROM A PATTERN

Issues of Pattern

Patterns

When my mother died I was very youngAnd my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry, “’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!”So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his headThat 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;

Patterns

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 a father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the darkAnd 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.

• CRYING• SWEEPING• FATHERS• SLEEPING-WAKING• NIGHT-DAY• COFFINS• DARK-WHITE/BRIGHT/SUNNY/

WASHED• WORK-PLAY• MESSAGES

Patterns

Issues and Claims of Cause and Effect

Character-centered:

Why does Tom have the dream he does right after the speaker tries to console him about his shaven head?

Perhaps Tom has the dream “that very night” because even though the speaker’s advice first manages to leave him “quiet,” he is not really comforted for long, needing a vision that better acknowledges the chimney sweepers’ collective misery while it also recognizes that at least God cares for them.

Issues and Claims of Cause and Effect

Author-centered:

Why does Blake have Tom dream his dream right after the speaker tries to console Tom about his shaven head?

Perhaps Blake has Tom dream the dream then because the poet wants to suggest that the speaker’s advice might not comfort a boy like Tom—that such boys need a vision that better acknowledges their collective misery while it also recognizes that at least God cares for them.

What is the effect of Blake’s placing the dream right after the speaker’s advice?

Blake’s placement of the dream has the effect of suggesting to the reader that the speaker’s advice might not comfort . . .

Evaluation

What is “a good boy”?

What constitutes “harm”?

How reliable are the speaker’s observations and

judgments?

Claims about Genre

Although “The Chimney Sweeper” concludes with what

appears to be a message to the reader (“So if all do their

duty, they need not fear harm”), the poem is not really a

sermon by its speaker. Rather, it is basically the speaker’s

attempt at self-consolation.

Issues of History, Society & Policy

Issues of History, Society and Policy

Further Advice

Acknowledge that other readers might disagree with you

Acknowledge that you’ve been having a disagreement with yourself

Point out what a superficial reader might fail to realize about the poem

Don’t be afraid to phrase your issue as a question

Make sure your reader leaves your introduction aware that your essay has an issue as well as a main claim

Issues of FactIssues of ThemeIssues of DefinitionIssues of SymbolismIssues of PatternIssues of Cause and

Effect

Issues of EvaluationIssues of GenreIssues of Historical

and Social ContextIssues of Social

Policy

Kinds of Issues

JOHN SCHILB

And now it’s time for your questions…