How Does William Blake convey his anger in the poem London ?
The poem 'London' by William Blake, relfects his feelings upon the
society that he was living in , and how despreratly it needed help.
Blake thought that all of the poverty and misfortune that was
happening on the streets were caused by the political opression in
London. Blake was angered by what he saw in his homeland as other
countries started fighting for their indipendence and equality whilst
his country stayed dormant, eventhough he felt that there was a
serious need for serious action.
Eventhough Blake wasn't a typical romantic writer, he too possesed the
same beliefs of fighting for what one believes in, and the urge to be
liberated from the opression of society. So, by being a writer of the
romantic period, watching a controlled and restricted society not
showing an intent to break free and fight against the monarchy,
angered him and inspired him to convey his ideas and feelings throuh
the poem 'London'.
In the poem, Blake travels through London and descibes what he sees.
And as a result, he sees a severly opressed 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
by the authorities. This is furthur emphasised by his repitition of
the word 'chartered' which then gives the reader an image of the lack
of freedom that the people in London posses as the 'streets' is a
metahor for the general public while the 'thames' represents their
freedom, this is as rivers are normally associated with free will
while the 'streets' are gernerally associated with the lower class in
society. So, by describing the streets and the thames ...
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...y that the
monarcy creates.
I feel that the poem 'London' effectively convyed William Blakes anger
towards the society and his feelings about it. This is as Blake is
awear of everything that goes on in the society, and the poem clearly
expresses his repulsiveness towards the political opression imposed by
the monarchy. However, Blake does not soley balme the monarcy, but
also the people of his country. This is because he saw all the other
countries that previously suffered the opression of a monarcy, fight
for their rights and equailty. Eventhough the monarcy did impose rules
upon society, Blake strongly believed that people could overthrow the
authorities if they were to truly try and do so. Hence, a part of
Blake's anger was conveyed by descibing the self-imprisonment of the
people, and how they could break free anytime, but still chose not to
do so.
William Blake focused on biblical images in the majority of his poetry and prose. Much of his well-known work comes from the two compilations Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The poems in these compilations reflect Blake's metamorphosis in thought as he grew from innocent to experienced. An example of this metamorphosis is the two poems The Divine Image and A Divine Image. The former preceded the latter by one year.
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
The theme of authority is possibly the most important theme and the most popular theme concerning William Blake’s poetry. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God. Blake was profoundly concerned with the concept of social justice. He was also profoundly a religious man. His dissenting background led him to view the power structures and legalism that surrounded religious establishments with distrust. He saw these as unwarranted controls over the freedom of the individual and contrary to the nature of a God of liberty. Figures such as the school master in the ‘schoolboy’, the parents in the ‘chimney sweeper’ poems, the guardians of the poor in the ‘Holy Thursday’, Ona’s father in ‘A Little girl lost’ and the priestly representatives of organised religion in many of the poems, are for Blake the embodiment of evil restriction.
Blake’s poetry focuses on imagination. When Blake created his work, it gained very little attention. Blake’s artistic and poetic vision is reflected in his creations. Blake was against the Church of England because he thought the doctrines were being misused as a form of social control, it meant the people were taught to be passively obedient and accept oppression, poverty, and inequality. In Blake’s poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell, he shows that good requires evil in order to exist through imagery of animals and man.
The theme of the suffering innocent person, dying and being diseased, throws a dark light onto the London seen through the eyes of William Blake. He shows us his experiences, fears and hopes with passionate images and metaphors creating a sensibility against oppression hypocrisy. His words come alive and ask for changes in society, government and church. But they remind us also that the continued renewal of society begins with new ideas, imagination and new works in every area of human experience.
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.
who are at the center of his work? If they are Contraries, then what does 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.
?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.
... Blake’s poem differs in this way as it does not contain an iambic pentameter however, it does contain rhyming couplets, which are a very simple way to allow a poem to flow easily and make it enjoyable for the reader such as the lines. In every cry of every man. In every voice, in every ban’. To conclude, I believe that Blake presents a more real viewpoint of London from his perspective, as it is more believable than Wordsworth’s view.
He disapproved the use of black slaves as he believed that it was immoral to exploit people on the basis of their appearance. Blake was an advanced and modern thinker who did not accept the typical Christian point of view. When we dwell deeper in the poem we realize that it also depicts colonialism, Blake wrote this poem at a time when slavery was persisting in London and many black people were working for English aristocrat families. It wouldn 't be wrong to say that the boy and his mother were also taken away from the “southern wild” presumably Africa to England and the whole poem revolves around their life in England. Blake’s motivation to write this poem was to create awareness among people that they should condemn such activities. He wanted to eliminate the mental block which was persisting among people in the
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.
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
...ions of his speaker creates and underlying tension in the poem as it appears that he can not decide whether he is chastising the rich member of society for allowing the lives of the lower class to remain in such desolate or if he is sympathizing with the lower class against the elite of London. The two moods of sympathizing and chastising are created through Blake’s use of structure and figurative language; he constructs his speakers words in such a way that there is a clear division made between the elite and the suffering lower class. Blake’s poem is unique on the grounds that it contrasts the typical idea of retelling history. With any historical situation there is always two sides to the story and it is up to the person reproducing it which side will be told; Blake’s London address both point of views and lets the audience decide which side they will agree with.
Often considered by scholars as the greatest pioneer of the Romantic movement in English literature, Blake was crowned as a “glorious luminary” by the 19th century English writer William Rossetti. Blake's poetry consistently embraces the idea of rebellion against the abuse of class power. Blake encountered both the American and French revolutions and was heavily influenced by the sense of liberation in both revolutions. He was also concerned about the negative effects of the industrial revolution, which further polarized the income distribution among different classes. The British Marxist historian E.P. Thompson classified Blake as having many similar beliefs as ...