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London and Westminster Bridge

        These two poems, though written within 10 years of each other, convey very different views on London. They were both written during a time of revolution and change. Both these poems were written at the turn of the 19th century, in Georgian times, to illustrate the authors' views on the City of London. At the time, the industrial revolution was underway and there was a vast growth in the population, due to medical advances and a more promiscuous culture with prostitution in the formation of new cities. There was a revolution started in France and because it was a respected country within Europe at the time, with its pioneers in architecture, gardening and thought, the French had major influence in England. Being its neighbouring country it caused ripples of change and rebellion in European thought. This affected many people in England; the poet Blake was one of them. His revolutionist ideas were conveyed in this poem, London. This was contrary to Wordsworth’s poem, Upon Westminster Bridge, which picked out the imagery of London and its glory, without relating that the frivolous consummations of the monarchy and the church, created a vast gap between the rich and the poor, which Blake picked up on.

        Wordsworth was most probably ignorant of the fact that the mass of the English population in London was poor, because he was a tourist in the city. Or he could have realised the fact yet looked past it deciding that it would make a better poem to elaborate on London’s splendour. The poem also, seems vastly over the top and many people may just take the poem at its face value and dislike it, but Wordsworth's poem describes London as 'glittering in the smokeless air' and having a calming aura. These statements, I think might be sarcastic. At the time it was written, the Industrial revolution was happening and the chimneys of most factories would be blurting smoke for most hours of the day, and even if they had stopped over night the remnants of months of coal burning would not dissipate within 8 hours. Also to describe London as calming is a little far fetched. London is the heart of the United Kingdom, a port and an important centre of commerce. It is near impossible for us to imagine it as 'calm' even in 'The beauty of the morning;' Wordsworth's most famous works are dedicated to the beauty of the awe-inspiring lake district, so it is not hard to imagine he could have been shocked and repulsed by London.

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        Upon Westminster Bridge sets off on the word “Earth” this could mean that London was the centre of the commercial world, and that at the same time was the best place on Earth to be. This could be another example of sarcasm due to London being half-built during the revolution. Its face meaning though is to start the poem off as a harmony of nature and architecture. The first line shows Wordsworth’s typical naturalistic view upon the city, as he relates with many of his other poems. He was an early romantic poet; he admired nature and natural form, his ...

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