William Blake wanted to portray the point that London is a dire place where no-one should live. He tries to convey this by using a cynical and contemptuous tone which creates a depressing atmosphere. On the other hand, William Wordsworth employs a very optimistic tone portraying a London that is a pleasant place which creates an admiring atmosphere. The obvious difference between the two poets’ tone is the use of diction and the images it conjures up. Blake selects his words in order to create a dour and dirge-like image such as the “blackening church” and hapless soldier’s sigh”, compared to William Wordsworth who selects his emotive vocabulary with the intention of creating jubilant images of “the beauty of the morning” and “all bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”
From the quotation above and below it is clearly seen that Wordsworth and Blake had clear contrasting views of London.
“I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow”
(London, lines 1, 2)
Blake uses the word “Charter’d” when describing the River Thames and the general surrounding streets which suggests that these places contained by the city are owned and have to be “hired out” by lower class people. It is also an ambiguous quote in which Blake portrays the atmosphere of exploitation which contributes to the surrounding oppressive ambiance. This differs from the extract of Wordsworth’s poem due to the different uses of emotive vocabulary or diction. An example of this is from the extract at the top of the page where Wordsworth uses “Doth” which generates and eulogistic and ecstatic image of a ‘god like’ London. The echo of the biblical diction also suggests that the experience is almost spiritual in nature which contrasts Blake’s use of “Charter’d” where he creates a depressing and negative image of our Capital.
Furthermore, the titles of the two poems give a good contribution to their views of London. Blake’s title of “London” is blunt and direct which gives London a boring and dour feeling right from the start. On the other hand, Wordsworth’s poem “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”, gives a specific date as if it were a diary entry, giving the feeling of something worth remembering.
Blake positions his different selection of emotive vocabulary in four stanzas to illustrate the boring and dullness of what he sees in London whereas in Wordsworth’s poem, he positions his emotive phrases in 14 lines or commonly known as a Sonnet. A sonnet is used to express a love for something or someone in fourteen lines. In this particular situation Wordsworth is expressing his love and admiration of the city and his view of the natural beauty which the city possesses which contradicts the dour label it was originally given. He also describes the city rather than the people in it (as Blake does) which suggests he was literally elevated (on a bridge) and morally elevated by this beautiful sight, where as Blake’s narrator is immersed in the city.
However, due to the presence of a “secret stanza”, a sonnet is created. The fourteen lines can be separated into two stanzas of eight and six or analytically known as an octet and a sestet. These can be spotted by the change in language from the basic idea expressed to the development of the original idea expressed. This is portrayed by the change in rhyme scheme from “A B B A A B B A,” which is a complex rhyme scheme, to “C D C D C D,” which are rhyming couplets. This split of the poem is present here due to Wordsworth (in octet) wanted to show his view of the city, in detail, whereas in the sestet, the narrator interprets the beauty in terms of the beauty of the natural world.
In contrast, “London”, is separated into four stanzas containing four lines. Each stanza is only one sentence and only contains one full stop. Each stanza has a regular rhyme scheme which consists of rhyming couplets. This rhyming scheme and layout is ordinary and dull and restrictive which is similar to Blake’s view of London. The fours stanza can suggest that each one is like the next leg of a walk through London and it is as if you are walking through each “charter’d” street. Contained within each stanza, a different characteristic of London is expressed. Each stanza focuses on a negative aspect of London, for example:
“How the Chimney Sweeper’s cry
Every Black’ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs down Palace walls.”
(London, stanza 3)
“Chimney Sweeper’s cry” and “Black’ning Church appalls” can be potentially interpreted in 2 different ways; it could be suggesting that the church is “black’ning” or being stained by the surrounding pollution that the city of London creates. It could also be interpreted as a metaphor, suggesting that the church is ‘grubby’ due to it being complicit in the abuses perpetrated on the population by the power in London. Another interpretation of this quotation could be suggesting that Blake is signifying that the church is appalled by the way in which innocent youth is being exploited but the church are not powerful enough to help. In addition, “Appalls” could also be understood as an echo of St. Pauls cathedral, which is the principal symbol of religious power in London. In the rest of this stanza (the 3rd) the first letter of every line spells the word HEAR which could suggest that the city is trying to be heard or just crying for help due to it being so corrupt.
The last two lines of this stanza are a powerful combination of aural and visual imagery where Blake comments on the abuse of power on the “Palace”, where palace is a metonymy for the government.
What's more, a good example of Blake’s concentration on the negative characteristics is when he mentions the “New born Infant.” This could be seen as a metaphor, because even an innocent “new born” child being born in a corrupt city will be stained with the corruption it was born into, for life. Other vocabulary, such as metaphors and personification can be seen in both poems. They use this vocabulary to convey their view in an easier and more poetic fashion. Many romantics used the analytical vocabulary to express their views. Such as, in this quotation, Blake repeats the words “every” and this communicates the all-pervasive wretchedness of the city.
“In every cry in every man,
In every Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice in every ban,
The mind forg’d manacles I hear.”
Blake’s use of repeated words such as “marks” and “every” stresses the ubiquity of misery and moral decrepitude in the city. Additionally, Blake uses an important metaphor in his poem, London, when he mentions “mind-forg’d manacles.” Manacles are similar to handcuffs but for more extreme cases. The suggestion of manacles implies that the people of London cannot leave and are chained to the city forever. Stating that the manacles are “mind forg’d” may imply that the people are bound by laws and not manacles. This suggests that they are not bound by these manacles but are restricted by either society’s expectations and demands or perhaps more importantly, by themselves. Blake’s suggestion appears to be that people in London are manacled by their own ‘weaknesses’. Which is a technique also used by Wordsworth.
His metaphors in Composed upon Westminster Bridge mention the “mighty heart lying still,” which is not only personification but it is an important metaphor of the city, or commonly known as Metonymy which is a certain type of metaphor which directs it’s meaning to the whole of something in this case the “heart” represents the city and due to it being early in the morning it is described as lying still which also relates back to the views of Romantics and the pastoral idyll. An example of personification would be when he mentions the city to be “like a garment, wear.” This is a simile and it personifies the city to be actually wearing a garment like a human would, but in truth is a metaphor, because it is the early hours of the morning, it is dark and appears to have a blanket or “garment” dropped over the city. No similes can be found in Blake’s poem suggesting that not even hell can relate to his views on the city.
Another use of personification is when Wordsworth refers to the “Houses seem asleep.” This is personifying the house to be asleep as a human would but in fact is a metaphor for the silence surrounding the streets because it is the morning, nobody in London has arisen from their sleep, therefore the lights are off and so they “seem asleep”. Wordsworth uses these special types of metaphors to generate the overall image that London is natural and like a living object, that should be treated equally to all other people and as objects would.
Another piece of figurative vocabulary used by Wordsworth is the punctuation when he mentions “like a garment, wear” and “the beauty of the morning; silent, bare.” He used the commas to emphasize the last word in that line, in this case “wear” and “..; silent, bare.” He uses the semi-colon to also emphasize the “silent” and break down the sentence so the adjectives of the sentence are given emphasis to.
It is straightforward, from the characteristics of the poems, to identify the message. The optimistic views and eulogistic images expressed by Wordsworth can portray the message that London is not such as bad place as it was once named. His views of looking on the optimistic side of things prove that London should be seen and judged for oneself. This title Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 uses a specific time, date and where is was written which is a message to the reader that the poet, even though conflicting a Romantic’s views, remains a Romantic but could not submit to this predominantly influential vision of beauty.
Contrasting this message, William Blake uses pessimistic diction to create a funereal tone to formulate negative and depressing images of London. He has used this to portray to the reader that London is filled with hatred and dishonesty along with the corrupt poverty and that nothing in this city will ever become pure and innocent again. . Wordsworth sees the city in natural terms and attempts to reconcile his love of nature with the beauty of this specific sight from the top of that bridge.
In conclusion, the two conflicting visions of William Blake’s poem London and William Wordsworth’s poem Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 are easily distinguishable from each other due to the pessimistic and dour message of a corrupt London and the optimistic and eulogistic message of an innocent and honest London. Their conflicting visions of the same city was due to what they believed the right message to be expressed by Romantic poets was
Jack Benjamin
LVP
Mr. Hartley