‘Ye banks and braes’
As the poem progresses further so does the mode of transport, the steam train.
‘Instead of journeys, people now
May go upon a Gurney’
A ‘Gurney’ is a steam train and they take the place of the horses in transporting people.
The stagecoach is another style of pre 1900 London vehicles. It's the equivalent to our modern day buses. Again there is a reference to a Shakespearian quote:
‘The world a sage has called a stage’
Sage is a wise person and this is Shakespeare himself and he called life a stage on which we are all playing our part.
He has mentioned a man called ‘Malthus’ who was a clergyman in favour of population control. In the poem he is complaining about the number of people on the stagecoaches.
The last stanza the poet has stated that people will no longer need conveyancing for small thing such as brooches and watches. In these times a handkerchief was regarded as being very valuable because they were made out of fine linen and they were constantly being stolen from people’s pockets. In the final four lines he has added a joke about this;
‘Ho! Stop the thief my handkerchief!
It is no sight for laughter –
Away it goes, and leaves my nose
To join in running after!’
Here, is an example of a play on words. When people have the flu they say their nose is running and here he says the handkerchief is running.
The structure of the poem is quite simple. There are 8, 8 lined stanzas and they all follow the same rhyme scheme. The second and fourth line both rhyme with each other and so do the sixth and eighth line. The third and fifth lines both have rhymes within the line for example, ‘Machine or man, or caravan.’ The poem has many forced rhymes for instance, ‘sticky’ and ‘dickey’ is a forced rhyme because the word dickey is not Standard English and is a slang word. There are many forced rhymes throughout the poem and adds to the humour for example, ‘loco-motion’, ‘cab-age’ and ‘Queen Mab age’
The poem in general is witty, light hearted, humorous and very detailed. I can tell this because of the way the poet has made certain references and used particular words for an amusing effect.
The second poem that I have studied is ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ and is written by William Wordsworth. He has written his view on what he thought London was. The poem illustrates the beauty and breath taking scenery that London had to offer.
‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by’
This statement proves that he believes that the sight of London is so spectacular that people literally had no soul if they hadn’t experienced it with their own eyes. The meaning ‘dull’ in this line is to show how someone is insensitive and emotionally sterile; they have a dull soul.
The view of London is described to be ‘majestic’ and my interpretation of this is that the sight was grand, powerful, dramatic and magnificent all in one.
The city of London wears the sunrise as though it is a garment. The poet has expressed this by using a simile;
‘This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning’
The atmosphere is quiet and peaceful because it’s first thing in the morning;
‘The beauty of the morning’
‘The very houses seem asleep’
These two lines suggest it is written in the early hours of the day; so early that no one is a wake. That’s why it's appears to be so silent. The houses seem asleep because there is no movement anywhere.
The skyline of the city contains various types of buildings including temples, theatres and domes. This can be seen because the writer is so high up he can see beyond the city and see into the countryside, ‘open unto the fields’. The air is bright and radiant so clear that it seems like London glistens under the sunrise. This is a bit of a contrast to what it would be like during the day because the sky becomes thick and full of smoke.
There is a feeling of calm as the poet has expressed what he is feeling, ‘never felt so calm so deep!’
He uses personification when he says the ‘river glideth at his own will:’ and says the houses are asleep. The word ‘glideth’ is an archaic word, meaning the river is flowing calmly and smoothly. ‘All that mighty heart lying still!’ is another example of personification the mighty heart could be the people. The people are the heart of the city; they are the ones that make a city alive.
The poem is written in a sonnet format. Sonnets are traditionally love poems written by someone who is in love. Here it is used because the poet is showing his affection towards the city. The poem contains 14 lines which is the normal sonnet length. 14 lines are long enough to express a complicated idea but are also short and concise, no words are wasted. The poem can be grasped with just one read of it. The rhyme scheme that has been used is an Italian Petrachan style. The first, fourth, fifth and eighth lines rhyme. While the second, third, sixth and seventh lines also rhyme. Lines nine, eleven and thirteen rhyme. The last set of rhymes is lines ten, twelve and fourteen. The first eight lines are very specific and contain a lot of detail. They are observational. But then it changes perspective; last six lines are more general. They are mostly comments on what he is seeing. The poem contains some archaic words like, ‘doth’ and ‘glideth’. On lines two, three and four and five there is no stopping as it's being read because then the lines will make no sense. They carry on into the next line to keep the flow of the poem.
The third and final poem that I have studied is called ‘London’ and is written by William Blake. It shows what he thought London was, which is a total contrast to the image the other two poems create. This poem is based upon the hardship and the harsh conditions that affected the poor people in London.
The first stanza of the poem begins with the poet saying he wanders through the streets near to where the river Thames flows. He describes the roads to be, ‘chartered’ meaning the streets are all recorded to make maps and official documents. He repeats the word, ‘chartered’ again in the second line for emphasis. He sees marks on everyone’s faces, marks of depression and woe. The marks that he is seeing are not physical but are more mental. The people all have the same expressions of sadness and stress ingrained in their faces this is because they are living in poverty and are unclean. They are in a state of depression and this is emphasised by the word ‘marks’ being repeated three times.
In the second verse, in the first three lines the words, ‘in every’ is repeated at the beginning of each sentence. This is highlighting the fact that every one looked the same.
‘The mind-forged manacles I hear’
This is demonstrating that the people are trapped inside this depression and gloom. Manacles are metal handcuffs and they are used here because the poet uses them to represent the people are psychologically, physically and mentally trapped. The manacles are not real they are imaginary and imprison the mind and lives of the people. The word repression is what I would use to describe the kind of condition they are in. They are kept down and they can’t change their life because of their lack of money. If they had money it will result in some form of power. In the Victorian times the only people allowed to vote were people that owned land and money. These people lacked money and had no rights to vote or to a say, this making it hard for them to change anything in their life.
The poem also shows William Blake thoughts were towards child labour. During the Victorian ages there was no age limit to get a job. There was a great deal of child labourers and most of them worked as chimneysweepers because they were small enough to fit down the holes. Small children were sent up chimneys and if they became stuck the fire would be lit below and the child would either shoot up or fall into the fire and die.
‘How the chimneysweeper’s cry
Every blackening church appalls;’
The poet has connected the chimneysweepers with the church. He has made this connection because there was so much smoke produced from the chimneys that it blackened the churches. No one tried to stop child labour, not until some years later by a man called Lord Shaftsbury, so the church knew of it and were horrified that little children were being sent up chimneys. The church was shocked by the treatment of the children but still did nothing to stop it from happening.
The next two lines also are connected with each other:
‘And the hapless soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down palace walls’
The soldiers that had just came back from war had faces rich of war and now they come back and their faces soon turn to look like the rest of them. The royal family usually refer to the soldiers as the royal guards. The names of some regiments are linked with the royal family. This could be one reason why he has choose to link the two.
The last verse talks about, ‘Harlot’s curse’ a Harlot being a prostitute. The curse being that prostitutes regularly gave birth to unwanted children due to the lack of contraception and the baby would be another burden for the lady.
‘And blights with plagues the marriage curse’
This line shows how the spread of diseases due to poor sanitation and unhygienic conditionds has interfered with what’s supposed to be the happiest day of a couples life, their wedding day. The plague haunts the day and there is still fears that something is going to go wrong.
The poem is written in 4, 4 lined verses. In each verse the second and fourth lines rhyme and the first and third lines also rhyme.
The mood and tone of the poem is one of suffering. I can tell this by the words that he has used for example, ‘appalls’, ‘hapless’ and ‘ blights’ all these word have negative meanings. The poem has a feeling of pain, fear, and is has a bleak view of London. The poem ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ shows the positive aspects of London it’s very calm and is all about the beauty London had to offer, but this poem shows every negative part of London including the plague and the suffering.
If I compare ‘Conveyancing’ to the poem ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ they too are completely different from their contents. One shows a busy side to London there is a lot of ‘hustle and bustle’ and is based on movement while the other has no movement at all; there is stillness and no action-taking place. The atmosphere that ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ creates is peaceful and also tranquil and ‘Conveyancing’ has a more loud and hectic environment. It has a more funny tone, ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ has a more serene tone but ‘London’ has the most serious tone it's the one that is full of misery.
From the three poems that I have studied my personal preference would be the poem ‘‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ because I feel that it is the best poem. It isn’t dull and down heartening but the opposite. It's calm and is full of detail. It’s also not too long or too short. It’s simple and reasonably straightforward to understand. It portrays a clear picture of what London used to look like and I think is the one that has the most feelings expressed in it from the writer.