‘The river glideth at his own sweet will’.
By this he’s saying the river can flow wherever it chooses, whereas in Blake’s poem the river is ‘chartered’, it’s mapped out and man-made, for example;
‘Near where the chartered Thames does flow’
This is written in a very factual way and a more realistic approach to the way the river Thames flows.
Wordsworth seems to have a more glorified view of the city, as it was during the Industrial Revolution when there was a lot of pollution and smog produced by the factories.
Blake’s poem talks about destruction and disease a lot, he develops this idea by contrasting marriage with death, for example;
‘And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.’
This line means the men that catch the STD, syphilis from the prostitutes, pass it on to their wives who die from the disease as there were no antibiotics. He’s using something happy and linking it with something bad. This line creates an image of a bride turning up to her wedding in a funeral car because her husband was unfaithful to her by being intimate with a prostitute. Another interpretation of this image could be of a decaying female body doused with the STD, syphilis. By using these ideas and images it could mean what was about to happen was predicted in stanza two. In the first stanza of William Blake’s poem he describes the expressions on people’s faces as miserable and immoral.
In the third stanza, twelfth line of Blake’s poem he uses the metaphor,
‘Runs in blood down palace-walls.’
To describe the soldiers who fought for the king overseas in America. The King didn’t care who died or who was injured, he didn’t give them any special treatment when they returned. If there were any injured soldiers they either had to die or get better themselves because no-one was going to try to help them. Whilst the second and fourth stanza are about the same thing, marriage. For example; second stanza, seventh line from the top,
‘In every voice, in every ban’
By this he means in everyone’s voice and in every legal agreement of marriage. This stanza continues and finishes with,
‘The mind-forged manacles I hear.’
Meaning in all of the people he meets he hears they can’t think for themselves and are unhappy, also this line creates the image of a slave with chains around their ankles and cuffs around their hands. Blake blames the church and the palace for the creation of the ‘manacles’.
‘Every blackening church appals’
This creates a few images in the reader’s mind such as the pollution is blackening the church walls or it could be ‘blackening’ because it isn’t helping to change the people or the king’s morals. It is also quite hypocritical because the church is meant to lead someone along a righteous path, yet it is not practicing what it preaches. The church is seen as corrupted and a social gathering for rich people.
In the final stanza, Blake uses alliteration on the letter ‘b’, the impact of this makes you say the word in a more forceful fashion and at a quicker pace compared to the walking pace it has been going throughout the poem. In Blake’s poem he repeats the same words over again, such as ‘chartered’, he uses this because you can not move is from its designated place where it was built. For example the River Thames, was especially designated to the place it still stands at today because it’s not supposed to move. Another repeated word is ‘In’, he uses this word because it gives the effect of something always being inside something else. The word ‘every’ is repeated because it’s what he sees in all things he looks at. These are only a few of the repeated words Blake uses; it helps to create a greater impact on the reader, their opinions and the way it’s read. Most of the images Blake creates are of a disgusting nature.
Meanwhile in Wordsworth’s poem the images he creates are natural and of a tranquil nature. For example;
‘Earth has not anything to show more fair;’
This means nothing else on the Earth is as beautiful as the place he is over-looking. This line creates an image of a person over-looking the most breath taking sunset, where reality “hits” you and everything seems to make sense. The line,
‘All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.’
Promotes tranquillity and a pure place on Earth, it creates an image of a wholesome City, clean of all impurities, a perfect place to be. It also promotes a kind of innocence to London; most of Wordsworth’s lines promote this innocence to any morning in London. It’s like London can’t do anything wrong, everything is right.
‘The beauty of the morning: silent, bare.’
This line tells the reader that although the morning is silent and lonely, it is in fact a beautiful morning, possibly because there isn’t anyone around. It creates an image of a lonely but happy man looking out at a beautiful and passionate view in the morning.
‘Open unto the fields, ant to the sky,-’
By using this line he’s saying everything’s natural and pure out in the open sky. The image of this line is the same as the one above, some of the images are roughly the same as each other throughout this sonnet.
Blake writes from his viewpoint of the city in first person, but as though it’s a video tape following his journey through London. Blake loves London but views it as disgusting and deteriorating although he stays to see it change for the better.
Wordsworth writes an a similar way and in his viewpoint but in the third person, he describes London in a very different way to the way Blake does. Although Wordsworth sees London as a beautiful place he incorporates his feelings toward the city in his poem.
Blake’s language is very pessimistic and he uses quite simple vocabulary, for example;
‘And the hapless soldier’s sigh’
The word ‘hapless’ means miserable and depressed, this is a very pessimistic word and the word ‘sigh’ is an unhappy word too. Whilst Wordsworth uses a simple variety of language, which is easily understood and very optimistic, for example;
‘A sight so touching in its majesty’
By this he means that the view is amazing and so beautiful, he uses the word ‘touching’ because the view reaches out and captures your attention and heart. Wordsworth uses personification and metaphors in his sonnet, for example;
‘The City now doth like a garment wear’
This shows he uses personification in his poetry, making the city come to life by giving it clothes and garments to “wear”.
Blake wants to establish a dark, sinister and miserable mood in the poem “London”. For example;
‘And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.’
The word ‘blights’ means a harmful effect of something. The word ‘plagues’ means disease and ‘hearse’ is a funeral car, all of these words promotes dark and miserable things with disastrous endings.
Wordsworth wants to establish a happy, tranquil and touching mood in the poem “Composed upon Westminster Bridge”. For example;
‘All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.’
The words ‘bright’ and ‘glittering’ are seen as happy, touching and beautiful, and the word ‘smokeless’ promotes a kind of tranquil atmosphere, Wordsworth’s poem seems more unrealistic and a glorified view of the city. Whilst the atmosphere in Blake’s poem is quite depressing and awful as he’s talking about daunting yet very real situations. His poem sounds more realistic than fantasy.
Blake creates his tone and mood by using linking ideas mentioned previously. Wordsworth creates his tone and mood by describing and linking the weather and time of day with the “country” scenery via houses and landmarks.
Personally I prefer William Blake’s poem “London” because it’s a more realistic view of London especially as it was written during the Industrial Revolution which caused a vast amount of pollution. Even though this poem is quite sincere it is described beautifully for awful events and situations. My response to the society William Blake is quite disgusted, although its described very well. Although William Wordsworth’s poem is described beautifully it seems very un-realistic and like it’s a completely different world- not the world we know. I think his poem hasn’t got a lot of character but has got touching scenery which almost makes up for the loss of character.
