Compare and contrast the presentation of London in William Blake's "London" and William Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"

Both of the poems are in the first person however one is slightly clearer than the other.  Blake’s ‘London’ is by far clearer, right from the beginning that it is in the first person.  This is because in the first line it says, “I wander”.  The ‘I’ gives it away that it is in the first person because he is talking about what he does, wandering the recorded streets.  He does this so that we get the impression that he himself is doing all of the work/actions.  In Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’, it is only truly clear that it is written in the first person in the fourth but last line when it says, “ne’er I saw”.  

You can tell that Wordsworth’s poem was influenced by the Romantic Movement which happened in the 18th and 19th century.  This is because he is showing his feelings without any care and it is about nature and his geographical surroundings.  This is shown in the line saying, “Never did sun more beautifully steep”.  The word ‘beautifully’ is one of his feelings and the word ‘sun’ is the natural part of his poem.  Blake’s poem was also influenced by the romanticism period but in a negative way as apposed to Wordsworth’s positive view.  He uses it to show how London is a bad place.  This can be found in many lines but one in particular stands out, “How the chimney-sweepers cry”.  This stands out because of the word ’cry’ being his emotion and chimney-sweepers being his geographical surroundings because London, back in the 18th century, had a lot of chimney due to a lot of industries.

The language techniques used in Blake's poem vary.  Two examples of the language techniques that Blake used are juxtaposition and irony and sibilance.  An example of a juxtaposition and irony is that he used “the marriage-hearse”.  This gives us the message that if you get married you will die. An example of sibilance is “soldier’s sigh”.  William Wordsworth used similar language techniques such as, hyperboles, similes, rhyming and listing.  An example of listing in his poem is “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temple lie”.  The dome he is referring to is St Paul’s Cathedral and he is emphasising the fact that it must be a beautiful place to have a cathedral.  This is yet another example of Wordsworth’s poem being nice as it is listing all of the places you would go.

        Blake used manly one type of imagery and that was a negative view.  It starts off as dull streets with everything were it should be, “chartered”.  Then it goes onto what people look like and how they all look sorry for themselves.  It then goes back to the geographical appearances and how certain things look the opposite, juxtaposition.  Such as “the marriage-hearse”.  On the other hand, Wordsworth’s poem is all about how wonderful London is.  This is shown right from the beginning when it says “to show more fair”.  This straight away puts an image into your minds of London having a fairy tale rainbow over it.  It then goes on to telling the reader about what you can see in reality rather than in your minds.  Finally, Wordsworth give us imagery of London's peaceful and calm atmosphere.

        Wordsworth’s poem is in the form of a sonnet.  This is because there are two verses.  The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBACDCDCD.  Blake's poem is a iambic pentameter.  It has some rhyming couplets but no rhyme scheme.  Stanzas 1, 2&4 are 8 syllables long and the third stanza is 7 syllables.  The third stanza is meant to stand out.

        In conclusion, my favourite poem is ‘London’ by William Blake.  This is because it gives facts about what London is today.  Also he describes London as it would be in about twenty year’s time.  However, Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ is sort of a fairy tale poem.  This is because he is describing it in the way that you would want it to be, all nice and cosy.