Topic 4 (session A) - The grammar of simple sentences > SPOCA analysis > Task C

SPOCA analysis and what it can show

Task C - "The Clod and the Pebble"

For Task C we're going to look at a poem by William Blake called 'The Clod and the Pebble'. The poem comes from a collection called 'Songs of Experience', which contrasted with another set of poems called 'Songs of Innocence'. The Songs of Innocence present a naïve attitude to life and a beneficent God. The Songs of Experience present a harsher view. Some pairs of poems in the two volumes are meant to contrast (e.g. the well-known poems 'The Lamb' ('Little lamb, who made thee . . .) and 'The Tyger' ('Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright . . .).
Note: 'meet' = 'appropriate'

'Love seeketh not itself to please
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.'

So sung a little clod of clay
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet.

'Love seeketh only self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite.

Analyse the sentences and clauses of this poem, stanza by stanza. Pay special attention to effects of parallelism and deviation which the grammar creates, and describe how they lead you to your interpretation of the poem.
Then compare what you think with what we say.

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