Compare and contrast the poems London, by William Blake and Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3rd, 1802, by William Wordsworth.

English Coursework

William Blake and William Wordsworth, both, once supported the French Revolution, which inspired the Romantic era with its love of freedom. Blake and Wordsworth led very different lives and both had different writing styles. It is interesting that they have both written poems about London, the capital of England, yet they have such contrasting views on this famous city.

In the poem London, Blake writes about negative points in the city. The subject of the poem is the reality of life for the disadvantaged on the streets of London. Blake talks as if he is one of the locals and knows London like ‘the back of his hand’. I believe that London reflects Blake’s own opinion because he was a known supporter of the French Revolution, so the perspective expressed in the poem fits what Blake would think. So I will refer to the narrator as Blake.

In the poem, Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Wordsworth writes only about the positive points in the city. It is apparent that the poem is Wordsworth’s own feelings from the title and the way it is written. Wordsworth talks about an overview of London and describes the city from the outside. Wordsworth writes as if he is a tourist seeing the city for the first time. He describes all the beautiful architecture which he sees and he also explains how the beauty of nature in the form of a sunrise makes the sight all the better to see.

The two poets have extremely contrasting views about the same place; they are almost mirror images of each other. Blake writes about ‘what goes on behind closed doors’ in London. He talks about the side that only people who live it know about. He talks about the secrets, darkness and despair that actually fill London contrary to what tourists believe. Wordsworth on the other hand shows something quite different, he shows what the visitors see and think of London. He shows the ‘bright side’ of the smoky London, he also talks about how nature highlights the accomplishments of man; the buildings on the skyline bathed in the sunrise.

The tones of the two poems differ greatly. In London the tone is extremely bitter and shows great anger towards the way that the city is run. Blake shows his disgust at the way everything is controlled by the government, ‘I wander thro’ each charter’d street, / Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.’ The repetition of ‘charter’d’ shows the fact that Blake does not agree with the establishment controlling everything. The contrast between a free flowing product of nature, such as the Thames, and the word ‘charter’d’ emphasises how almost everything is controlled and how much Blake despises this fact. This also highlights the poet’s opinion that nearly everything is ‘charter’d’ even something that exists in its own right, such as a mighty river. The Thames is part of nature, and really shouldn’t belong to anyone. The repetition of ‘charter’d’ also creates the feeling of monotony and shows that perhaps, Blake is tired and weary of knowing the fact that the hierarchy controls everything and everyone. These lines also give the view that the people of London do not really have the freedom to lead their own lives and the way they live is directed by the way the institutions practically own everything.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Westminster Bridge has a very positive and liberating tone. Wordsworth describes London from a ‘bird’s eye’ view and portrays it as a calm and beautiful city with ‘no worries’. Wordsworth praises, ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair:’ this hyperbole grabs the reader’s attention as it allows them to understand the awe that Wordsworth feels when he sees London. This is also a shocking opening for those who are familiar with Wordsworth’s work. It is a well known fact that Wordsworth loved nature and wrote many poems praising Mother Nature’s work. So this will extend the emphasis of the beauty of London for readers, as Wordsworth says that the sight he sees is more beautiful than anything on earth this is a very strong view. Also the fact that the poem has an autobiographical element, ‘September 3, 1802’ this gives the impression that Wordsworth thought the impact of the experience of seeing London in the early morning was so important that he even gave the date the poem was written.

Blake further shows his disgust for the way the people of London live by making it clear that those who are unfortunate have been left to fend for themselves for so long that suffering has almost become a part of them, ‘And mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe,’ the signs of sadness and poverty are everywhere to be seen and mark every poor inhabitant. ‘Marks of weakness…woe’ these are actually visual signs that he sees in people’s faces. The sadness riddles the streets of London and is part of everyone in the underclasses.

This is again shown in the second stanza of London, ‘In every cry of every man’ this sounds like a ‘cry’ of desperation as it is stereotypically known that men never ‘cry’ so this line is extremely effective because it shows that if a man is crying then the situation must be dire. ‘In every’ is repeated throughout the stanza perhaps to bring to attention the sheer number of those suffering it is also emphasising the point that the majority of London’s population is suffering and poor. Another point which shows just how much the poor are restricted is, ‘The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.’ This gives the impression that everyone is carrying a big weight on their shoulders around with them. It shows that they are all tied down by something. They have no freedom at all even in their own minds where they make their own thoughts. These ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ maybe due to the deep depression the unfortunate of people of London who have no money and have been forced to send their children to work at extremely young ages, just to survive. Some young girls even had to get into prostitution to earn enough money to live on. Something which could be the cause of the ‘manacles’ is, ‘in every ban’ this could refer to people calling out or restrictive ways of life for example the hierarchy not allowing poor people to climb up the ladder and earn themselves a decent living. Blake has an obvious hatred towards restrictions, so these ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ would be unbearable to him because it is known that he was a supporter of the Romantic movement and the French Revolution. Blake was all for freedom of speech and overthrowing the monarchy to make life fairer for the poor and suffering.

However in Westminster Bridge, Wordsworth makes it clear that he sees nothing but freedom in London. ‘The river glideth at his own sweet will:’ the effect of this personification is that The Thames that Wordsworth admires is not chartered as described in Blake’s London. It gives the view that everyone is free to do what they want and that The Thames is the true owner of London as it has been personified to do everything in its own time. Throughout the poem it is almost as if Wordsworth is looking through ‘rose coloured spectacles’ because he describes everything with awe.

‘A sight so touching in its majesty;’ Wordsworth shows that he is aware the city is the home of the monarchy and shows that London is more beautiful than expected. ‘Majesty’ implies that London has a certain graceful and powerful element to it. The fact that the sun shines on everything in London adds to the ‘majesty’ of the city as it gives the impression of everything sparkling underneath the light. It also makes everything sound extremely grand and makes Wordsworth sound in admiration for the well known city.

Wordsworth shows his admiration for nature throughout the poem, ‘This City now doth, like a garment, wear’ he is saying that the city is wearing the morning like clothes. This implies that the city and the morning complement each other another thing which may also show this is the fact that the poem is written in a sonnet form which is typical for love poems. Perhaps Wordsworth is showing that he is in love with the city just as much as he is with nature.

However, Blake shows how much he hates the way that everyone in the city is controlled and he shows his disgust towards a certain few institutions, ‘How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every black’ning Church appalls;’ Perhaps Blake is saying the church’s reputation has been blackened for using working class children to clean their chimneys. It could even mean that the church is corrupt for standing by and allowing this exploitation of children to happen, also for not helping the poor and suffering more. Blake again attacks another institution in his poem, ‘And the hapless Soldier’s sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls.’ This shows that Blake is repulsed by the carelessness of the monarchy as here it clearly shows that do not care for the lives of the many soldiers, which have been lost. This also shows that the monarchy has the blood of the courageous and innocent soldiers on their hands.

Blake further exposes the corruption in London by describing what the streets are like at night this is a typically ominous period in the day and it is believed that this time of day is the most corrupt. He talks about prostitutes and marriage, ‘How the youthful Harlot’s curse / Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear, / And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.’ This is like a chain reaction or plague as she may sexually transmitted diseases which will in turn will be passed through the couple and end up ruining their relationship. Blake seems to be spitting the words, ‘blasts …blights’ it seems he is very bitter about the existing corruption of the people in the city and that it has lead to such despicable behavior. The ‘youthful Harlot’ should be innocent and carefree but isn’t because she has been forced to work at a very young age to earn money to survive. The prostitute ‘blasts’ at her child. She shouldn’t be swearing at a baby, but this shows how young and inexperienced she is, she isn’t ready to have and look after a baby. No wonder that the infant has a cry of fear it has no hope and nothing to look forward to it will probably end up like its mother. The harlot ‘blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.’ It is as if Blake is question the fact that marriage exists in this dishonest world. The ‘youthful Harlot’ is paid for sex most probably by a married man this unfaithfulness will most probably lead to the death of the man’s marriage. Also this meaningless sex kills the idea of marriage.

Whereas, in Wordsworth’s poem of London there is no corruption of any sort mentioned. Throughout the poem cannot have enough praise for London, ‘Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!’ the repetition of ‘never’ and the use of an exclamation mark shows the amazement he feels for the city, he also a shows a true raw emotion by using this in the line. Wordsworth further shows his awe at how quiet it is, ‘Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; / And all that mighty heart is lying still!’ Wordsworth is amazed at the fact that such a beautiful city exists and no one is looking and appreciating it as much as him. He also acknowledges the fact that the city, ‘that mighty heart,’ has still not woken up so it seems he is saying that he has not yet seen it at its best.

Overall, both poems contrast greatly and show two very different views of London. Blake has titled his poem London, so the reader can assume that he is going to talk about the whole of London and the actually place itself and the way of life. Wordsworth, however, has written his poem, Composed upon Westminster Bridge in the grandest and richest parts of London so it is expected that the descriptions would be beautiful and majestic. He is also looking at the city at specific time, in the morning, so he would not have seen the real London and would probably not know what it is really like because the factories would not have started working yet so London would not be smoky as it usually was. Blake would have describing London from experience and he would have seen London for what it really was and Wordsworth would have seen it from a tourist’s point of view because he wrote the poem when he had visited London for the first time.