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Analysis of London by William Blake
William Blake as a social critic
Analysis of poem london by william blake
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Recommended: Analysis of London by William Blake
Another poem which has similar value and importance to modern society as ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is ‘London’, written by William Blake and set in the slums of London in 1794 (about 100 years before ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was written and 6 years after the First Fleet arrived in Australia).
William Blake lived from 1757 to 1827 and spent his entire life living in Britain. Blake published his poem ‘London’ in the Romantic Era of poetry when violence and rebellion was in high occurrence all throughout Europe. Blake along with other British citizens and early Romantic poets were in support of the French revolution. This was a time in history were people in all parts of the ‘New World’ including the British were fighting for their national identities.
He depicts London to be dirty, disorderly, government ruled, sad and confronting filled with powerless and entrapped people in turmoil. There is reference to, sadness is every face on the street, children being forced down chimneys by the church, blood running down Palace walls, prostitution, dysfunction of motherhood and the fairly rapidly failing state of the society before the revolution. This was the decaying, pre-revolutionary identity of the British people. ‘London’ the poem so effectively transports contemporary readers into the moment through the use of endless poetic devices. It’s like the reader is walking in the footsteps of the character, living their life and feeling what they’re feeling; these people were fighting so hard for their identity and for their rights.
‘London’ is made up of 4 stanzas with 4 lines. Blake uses rhythm in the poem to create feelings of uncomfortableness, sadness and empathy to resonate with the contemporary reader. All of the lines in the poem have a consistent metric rhythm and use the rhyme scheme (abab) for each
Line 3 of stanza 3 in the poem reads;
“…And the hapless Soldier’s sigh…”
Both the alliteration of the letter s in Soldier’s sigh, and consonance at the end of the words ‘hapless Soldier’s’ are another example of Blake using literary devices. Just as Banjo Paterson does in ‘Waltzing Matilda’, William Blake places these subtle devices throughout his work creating harmony and attention to language.
Blake was among some of the best known poets of the Romantic era including William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, Samuel T. Coleridge, John Keats and Lord Byron. All of these poets wrote something about the decreasing Anglican community, rise in religious and political conflict and the industrial revolution of Britain. All of these topics are crucial to the history of the modern British society and their development of identity throughout the centuries. Blake in his poem ‘London’ successfully manages to preserve historical characteristics of emotional and physical life in London, including what language was used in that era.
Without poetry we have no way of preserving, in lyrical tone, a history that can reach and connect with the
Blake also uses sound to deliver the meaning to the poem. The poem starts off with "My mother groaned! my father wept." You can hear the sounds that the parents make when their child has entered this world. Instead of joyful sounds like cheer or cries of joy, Blake chooses words that give a meaning that it is not such a good thing that this baby was brought into this world. The mother may groan because of the pain of delivery, but she also groans because she knows about horrible things in this world that the child will have to go through. The father also weeps for the same reason, he knows that the child is no longer in the safety of the womb, but now is in the world to face many trials and tribulations.
The poem "London" by William Blake paints a frightening, dark picture of the eighteenth century London, a picture of war, poverty and pain. Written in the historical context of the English crusade against France in 1793, William Blake cries out with vivid analogies and images against the repressive and hypocritical English society. He accuses the government, the clergy and the crown of failing their mandate to serve people. Blake confronts the reader in an apocalyptic picture with the devastating consequences of diseasing the creative capabilities of a society.
angered him and inspired him to convey his ideas and feelings through the poem 'London'. In the poem, Blake travels through London and describes what he sees. And as a result, he sees a severely oppressed society that is caused by the authority, such as royalty, and the church. This is as Blake sees. that even the streets and the thames are 'chartered' and governed.
Natoli, Joseph. "William Blake." Critical Survey Of Poetry, Second Revised Edition (2002): 1-12. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
In "London", William Blake brings to light a city overrun by poverty and hardship. Blake discards the common, glorifying view of London and replaces it with his idea of truth. London is nothing more but a city strapped by harsh economic times where Royalty and other venues of power have allowed morality and goodness to deteriorate so that suffering and poverty are all that exist. It is with the use of three distinct metaphors; "mind-forg'd manacles", "blackning Church", and "Marriage hearse", that Blake conveys the idea of a city that suffers from physical and psychological imprisonment, social oppression, and an unraveling moral society.
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Blake had an uncanny ability to use his work to illustrate the unpleasant and often painful realities around him. His poetry consistently embodies an attitude of revolt against the abuse of class and power that appears guided by a unique brand of spirituality. His spiritual beliefs reached outside the boundaries of religious elites loyal to the monarchy. “He was inspired by dissident religious ideas rooted in the thinking of the most radical opponents of the monarchy during the English Civil War “(E. P. Thompson). Concern with war and the blighting effects of the industrial revolution were displayed in much of his work.
In the first poem, 'Westminster' this person is visiting London for the first time, he is not shown the reality of London but a slightly obscured view of beauty, as the light is reflecting off buildings, and giving an impression of calm, peace and tranquility. 'The beauty of the morning, silent, bare.' The reason we can guess for his delusion of the city is the fact that he is seeing it in 'the m...
Upon first reading one of London’s most distinguishable feature is the rhythm that is evoked by the closed structure of the poem. London’s text is divided into four stanzas each containing four lines. The four lines in the each stanza follow a pattern of repeated syllable count which features the corresponding lines from each stanza having identical syllable counts. Another structural device that Blake employs is an ABAB rhyming scheme at the end of every line, which is what brings out the poem’s steady beat. Together these structural choices develop a chant-like rhythm that brings out emotion from both side of the poem’s message. On one hand this chant like rhythm creates a feeling of conformity and industry, which is a reflection of the industrial revolution and the power of the government. However, the chant also can be seen as a representation of ...
The poems ‘lines composed on Westminster Bridge’ and ‘London’ are created by William Wordsworth and William Blake respectively. Wordsworth’s work originated in the eighteenth century and he himself lived in the countryside, and rarely visited large cities such as London. This is reflected on his poem, making it personal to his experience in London, however William Blake on the other hand had a vast knowledge of London and was actually a London poet, which allowed him to express his views of London from a Londoner’s point of view. I therefore will be examining comparisons in both poems, as well as their contrasting views of London and the poetic devices used to express their opinions.
?London? is a poem of serious social satire directed against social institutions. According to Blake author Michael Phillips ?it is a poem whose moral realism is so severe that it is raised to the intensity of apocalyptic vision.? Blake becomes more specific in his descriptions of the prevalent evil and moral decay of society as the poem progresses. Blake?s informative nature is clearly evident in ?London? as he ?points the finger? and exposes powerful institutions.
William Blake uses repetition, rhyming and imagery in his poem to help promote the idea that London, England is not the city that people dream that it is, the city itself can be a
Although written prior to what became know as Marxism, William Blake’s poem London exhibits many of the qualities favored by Marxism. The poem, in its sixteen lines, centers on both the political background and the social background of London. Keeping with Marxist beliefs, it exemplifies the differences between the upper class citizens and the poverty stricken lower class. He also attacks the Church and the Palace for contributing to the plights of those on the lowest spectrum of society. Blake starts his poem with
"William Blake - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss." The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. Web. 07 July 2011. .
To completely acknowledge “London” the reader must first understand the historical context during this time period. William Blake's poem, "London",