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‘Every’ is repeated universalising it, the man also adds to this. Blake chooses to write about an infant as it makes you think the poor innocent child and keeps the poem negative.
‘How the Chimney sweepers cry’ Blake effectively chooses to write about a chimney sweeper as it is seen as a poorly paid job that young children were sent to do. They worked long hard hours and had no education; it could be described as a malnourished job. This adds a lot of negativity to the poem in an effective way. Blake also chooses to write about the ‘hapless soldiers sigh’, which can be seen to represent young men fighting, and dying pointlessly, wasting their lives. He starts this line with the word ‘And’ expressing that there are more negative things to come, there are many of them. Blake chooses to write about young people and what he sees, as they are the next generation, but they all live very poor lives which shows there is not much hope for the future.
Blake describes the church as the ‘blackening church appals’. Normally a church would be described in a good way yet Blake sees it negatively describing the church as ‘blackening’ which is usually associated with mourning, death and funerals. Blake sees the church in a bad way, a huge institution that you had to go to, yet they did nothing to help these poor people that he has been describing.
At the end of the first verse you may think that this may be the end of all the negativity but there is more to come. Blake brings another character in to his poem,‘ the youthful harlot’s curse’. Here Blake chooses to write about a prostitute because it is seem as a dirty grubby job, there was no contraception and caused unwanted pregnancies, bringing more unwanted children in to the world. ‘ New born infants tear’. This makes you feel sorry for the young child, as it did not ask to be brought in to this awful world that Blake is describing. It sounds like a dreadful place that you would definitely not want to go to.
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‘I wander thro’ Blake writes in first person to create a more immediate effect. He uses the word ‘ wander’ instead of wandered which makes it seem like its happening now.
Blake uses many different techniques throughout his poem ‘London’. He uses an ABAB rhyme scheme. This emphasises certain words, the negative ones. Blake skilfully emphasises these negative words using this technique. He also uses Iambic tetrameter in the first verse to make the poem flow. This pattern breaks after the first verse. Blake uses enjambment to keep the poem flowing; it moves you on to the next line to give more negative things happening.
‘Mind forged manacles’ alliteration is used skilfully here to fall on the ‘m’ sound. This reflects the negativity and makes the reader focus on it. Blake uses this technique several times to create this effect.
Juxtaposition is all so used by Blake in the end verse. ‘ The marriage hearse.’ These are two words you don’t generally tend to see together, this has a religious meaning behind it that in London around the time William Blake wrote ‘London’ you were expected to marry before your late twenties. If you didn’t you had no future and were thought badly of, so women just married for the sake of it, happy or not. These are the last words of the poem, which helps add to the pessimistic tone of the poem.
I will now have a change of focus and look at the next poem, ‘Lines Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’, by William Wordsworth. This poem was written on September the third in 1803. This was written very shortly after ‘London’ yet it is very different in many aspects of it. It is quite unusual for Wordsworth to describe London the way he did as he was born and raised in the Lake District, a beautiful area full of natural wildlife which is very different from London yet he still likes it.
‘Earth has nothing to show more fair;’ is the first line taken from Wordsworths poem. He is saying that London is the most beautiful
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place in the world. Right away it is easy to tell that this poem is very different to ‘London’ not only is it set out differently, in one big verse it also praises London. ‘ Dull would he be of soul who could just pass by.’ Wordsworth uses positive diction to create a cheerful tone throughout the poem, ‘ majesty’, ‘beauty’ and ‘glittering.’ This is a big contrast to the vocabulary Blake used in ‘London’.
‘Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie’
Wordsworth describes the man made structures that he sees, focusing on the environment not the social aspect, which Blake does. He describes the buildings that look awesome to the eye and that they fit in so well with they sky and the landscape, ‘All bright and glittering’, which is a big comparison to how Blake describes the ‘blackening church’ in ‘London’. Another contrast of how the river is described as Wordsworth sees it the’ river glideth at his own sweet will;’ but Blake describes it as ‘the chartered themes’ Wordsworth seems amazed with the things he sees, ‘ Dear God!’ here he skilfully uses an exclamation mark to show his amazement. He also describes long as ‘ silent, bare,’ which was not how Blake saw it at all; he focused his poem on the social aspect of London.
There is a CDCDCD rhyme scheme towards the end of Wordsworth’s poem emphasising the positive words at the ends of the lines. He also uses lots of positive vocabulary, ‘splendour’ and ‘calm’ which creates a positive tone in the poem. These words contrast with those Blake used to describe the things he saw in London.
William Wordsworth uses different techniques to Blake yet they are still as effective. He uses similes and personification, which makes the poem seem more alive and it has a very positive tone throughout it. He uses positive vocabulary to create this effect and punctuation such as the exclamation mark. ‘Mighty heart is lying still!’ Wordsworth skilfully uses personification here to create the effect that London is a giant person and is alive. He uses the word ‘And’ at the beginning of this line to show how much better London is and
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finishes it with an exclamation mark ending the poem on a positive note.
When I first read the poems I was very surprised at how different they could be when written in such a similar time. How is it Wordsworth didn’t see all the negative things that Blake pointed out? Or how could Blake have missed all the spectacular features Wordsworth described? There was a huge contrast between the two poems but I found them both interesting. Overall I would say that I preferred Blake’s poem as it had more depth to it and seemed to be more immediate and involve the reader more. Despite all the negativity I found it interesting to read and found it effective in the way that Blake delivered it.
