Compare and contrast London by William Blake and Composed upon Westminster Bridge bt William Wordsworth discussing both the content and language of the two poems.

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COMPARE AND CONTRAST “LONDON” BY WILLIAM BLAKE AND “COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, DISCUSSING BOTH THE CONTENT AND THE LANGUAGE OF THE TWO POEMS.

        The Revolution in France coincided with the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution of England. During this period the rich became richer, the poor became even poorer, and major towns or cities became over crowded. The thoughts and feelings of the people living throughout the country at this time, often were expressed in poetic form. Two such poems set around the same time and both set in London are “London”, by William Blake and William Wordsworth’s “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge.”

        “London” is written nine years before “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge”, and tells of the suffering of the people of London. A uniform and exact feeling is sensed in the opening two lines of the poem, as both streets and the Thames are described as being “chartered” and something which is chartered is very exact and has a definite and set outline. The next two lines ending the first stanza tell of weakness and woe in every face Blake meets, meaning there is sadness and regret along with vulnerability sensed by him as he passes people along his journey.

        The first two lines of the second stanza read of the cry of both men and infants. The reason why infants cry is because they cannot say what is hurting or annoying them. Therefore we are led to realise that the suffering felt by the adults of London or of ‘Man’ as it were, is so intense that even they cannot verbalise it and so they cry out. Ending the second stanza we read that the poet hears “mind-forg’d manacles”. These are forms of fears, enforced into the minds of people, holding them back from doing or saying certain things. We are told these fears are found “in every person’s voice, in every ban”, meaning that these common fears are sensed by the poet, in every person he encounters.

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         The opening lines of the third stanza again tells of crying and also now of admonition. In this case the chimney-sweeper’s cry is heard. In those days chimney-sweepers were young children forced to go out to work by their families. They did very difficult and pain staking work for very little money - it shows their pain and suffering in doing so. Condemnation comes from the church. The religious leaders are appalled at the fact of this, yet the poet describes the church as “blackening”, giving us the impression of an unpleasant  ‘refuge’ which turns a blind eye on the ...

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