William Blake's London and William Wordsworth's Lines Composed on Westminster's Bridge

In this assignment I will analyze and compare two poems from the eighteenth century, ‘London’ written by William Blake and ‘Lines Composed on Westminster Bridge’ written by William Wordsworth. Both poets were well known during the eighteenth century, Blake was seen to have better understanding of the city, therefore represents his opinions from a Londoners point of view, and on the other hand Wordsworth was more of a country oriented person consequently giving a darker image of London. Surprisingly, they both shared different views on London, yet they lived in the same country with vast knowledge of the area. The differences of both poems are obvious, and to make a valid judgement on which is either trustworthy or misleading, is considerably difficult. The fact that both writers paint contrasting images of London, suggests during the period, hatred amongst people between distant areas was common. I will explore how both these poets represent the city by focusing on the language and poetic techniques used in more depth.

To begin, I will show you how William Blake uncovers London constructing a daunting atmosphere. Generally he was a religious human being, and believed only god was capable of fulfilling demanding tasks. This reflects why he writes about London negatively, as at the time the city was full of rich and powerful people seen to have godlike qualities. This was majorly against Blake’s beliefs. He expresses himself in a strong nature, as he commences his poem with an ‘I’, from the outset he engages the reader by making this personal and effective connection. This leads the reader to believe what Blake refers is likely to be true as it uses primary information rather than someone else’s point of view. He also writes in pre...

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... like qualities, it wears the sunrise like a human wears clothes, its more then just a place.

He talks about visiting places in London;“domes, theatres, and temples lie open unto the fields” at the time theatres and domes were used for magnificent entertainment in places like Greece and Rome, he compared London to them. There were classical buildings.

In contrast, Blake displays London’s sights as being dirty and dark;“How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry

Every black’ning Church appals, And the hapless Soldier’s sigh, Runs in blood down Palace walls” this section tells us the church is no use to the poor or casual people and will not improve their lives in any way. The church will not lend any money and have closed doors to the poor. This use of metaphor in the 4th line blames the royal family for the deaths of soldiers whose blood runs down the palace walls.