Homework on “The Chimney Sweeper” for Friday, December 9th:
1. Please find FIVE words in the poem that you think are loud. By “loud,” I mean words that stand out to you for some reason—any reason at all.
2. Write out the words below.
3. After each word, write its denotation (literal meaning) and its connotations (associations).
4. In a couple sentences, explain why you consider this word so important to the poem.
5. Please post your homework on the homework page of your personal website. Note: Please PASTE your homework onto the site rather than attach it as a word document. (Put the date and description of homework on the title line.)
Example (from “Base Details”):
Word: “toddle”
Denotation: walk with short, unsteady steps
Connotations: childish, drunk, uncertain, unsteady, unwise
Why important to poem: I picked “toddle,” which is in the last line of the poem (l. 10), because it describes what the speaker would do if he were an old, out-of-touch general or major at the end of the war. He’d “toddle safely home”—“toddle” suggests how childish and unwise the general is; he has no idea of what the war—World War I—is really about. He’s safely ensconced in his own, warm, unreal world of England whereas the soldiers, who are young and definitely in touch with reality, can’t “toddle” anywhere because they’re being killed on the front lines.
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