Wordsworth portrays his views for the city by using personification. A great example of this is when he writes ‘The City now doth, like a garment, wear the beauty of the morning’. This quote tells us how Wordsworth loves the beauty of London in the early morning, when there are no people present. He tells us that the city wears ‘a garment’ to cover up its dirty side, during the daytime. Wordsworth tells us that there is more to London than just the big buildings and the dirty factories. He wants everyone to know that London actually has a beautiful side to it.
Blake’s poem however is written in a different tone and style to Wordsworth’s. He doesn’t describe the natural beauty of the city like Wordsworth, but he describes the buildings and the people of London. While he makes it out that he is actually describing the people and the buildings, however, he is actually criticising the institutions, which they are trapped in. In his poem, Blake criticises the ruling of the country. This is quoted, ‘And the hapless soldier’s sigh, Runs in blood down palace walls’. He writes this to criticise the government, as at that period of time they were sending soldiers abroad to fight and even die. This act of criticism is again sensed when Blake criticises the church. This is quoted, ‘Every blackening church appalls’. Here, Blake signifies that the church is turning evil. Having studied Blake, we do learn that he is a religious man, however he must have felt that the church was becoming less sacred and trustworthy. As we can clearly see, especially in the third stanza, ‘London’ is a very emotional poem, and this is backed up by the fact that Blake was actually brought up in London. He is writing from personal experience.
Blake tells us how the people and landmarks of London are literally ‘trapped’. He does this firstly by using repetition of the word ‘chartered’ in lines one and two. Blake writes, ‘Near where the chartered Thames does flow’. This tells us that the river is ‘trapped’, as it is not allowed to flow freely. This is completely the opposite of Wordsworth’s poem., where it is quoted, ‘The river glideth at his own sweet will’. This tells us that the river is ‘free to move’, unlike the description which Blake tells us. Blake also writes, ‘The mind-forged manacles I hear’. This also tells us that the people of London are trapped. Blake tells us that the institutions that they are associated with trap the people of London.
In the first line of ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’, Wordsworth cleverly gives the reader a choice. He leaves it open to the reader to decide whether it is an optimistic or pessimistic view of London. He writes, ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would be of soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its majesty’. The optimistic approach to this sentence is that Wordsworth could be implying that London is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and that no one could simply pass by it without admiring its beauty. The pessimistic view however is that Wordsworth could have been using sarcasm in saying that London was ‘so touching in its majesty’. This view clearly has to be taken into account as we do know that Wordsworth did truly love the Lake District where he was born, and the chances of him saying that London was the most beautiful place he had ever seen is highly unlikely. However, in my opinion, I think that he was complimenting London by writing this highly controversial line. This is because, all together, the poem is written in a very complimentary manner.
Wordsworth uses the following line to later describe London, ‘All bright and glittering in the smokeless air’. Here, we can clearly tell that he is describing London in the early hours of the morning. However, this line can again be approached in two ways. Wordsworth may well be again adding a hint of sarcasm to his poem, as we all know that London can’t possibly be described as ‘smokeless’. This is made even harder to believe, as we know that the poem was written in the time of the industrial revolution. However, ignoring the pessimistic approach to this quote, the following line in Blake’s poem provides us a very interesting contrast: ‘How the chimney-sweeper’s cry’. This creates a very vivid image inside our minds. It tells us that London was a very dirty and sorrowful place, during the industrial revolution.
Blake uses repetition again in the third and forth line with the word ‘mark’. This is quoted, ‘And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe’. In the second stanza he also repeats the words ‘In every’ three times. This use of repetition can also be linked with the fact that the poem is very similar to a song. This is backed up by the fact that ‘London’ was written as part of the collection ‘Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience’. ‘London’, which is found in ‘Songs of Experience’, is clearly more personal than Wordsworth’s poem, as Blake was actually writing from personal experience.
Blake uses hyperbole to criticise the city. An example of this is when he writes ‘In every cry of every man’. As we can clearly see, Blake criticises London all throughout the poem. In the second stanza he tells us that the people of London are very unhappy. This is because he says that they are trapped by the ‘mind forged manacles’ that are present in the institutions, including the church and the monarchy. Blake paints London as a very evil and unhappy place, and this is again mentioned in the last stanza. Blake writes, ‘How the youthful harlot’s curse, Blasts the newborn infants tear’. This brings in the theme of sexually transmitted disease: ‘the youthful harlot’s curse’, which was ever present in nineteenth century London. This very sad theme links with the last lines of the poem, ‘And blights with plagues the marriage hearse’. This is a very sad ending to the poem, as marriage is meant to be a very joyful occasion, but here it is shown to be an institution, which causes the deaths of many people.
Both the poems, however, are similar as they both end relating to the theme of death. This is quoted in ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ by ‘And all that mighty heart is lying still’. This is a very poignant way to finish such an optimistic poem, as it connects the city with the theme that ‘death is always present’. However, this is not unusual in many eighteenth and nineteenth century poems, as disease levels were at an all time high, especially in cities like London.
Blake describes London as ‘the mind’ of the country. This tells us that Blake thought that London was very corrupt and evil, as some people’s minds can act like this. Wordsworth describes London as ‘the mighty heart’ because he felt that London was a very loving and beautiful city. These two simple comparisons can tell us what the two poets thought of London. They tell us that Wordsworth feels very positively about London, while Blake’s view is very pessimistic.
However, saying this, Wordsworth’s poem doesn’t say anything about the people of London. It only mentions its features and landscape. Wordsworth is fascinated about the calmness of London in the morning. He writes, ‘Dear God! The very houses seem asleep’. This is a very powerful line as he is so amazed by the tranquillity of the morning, that he even feels it is important to address God about the matter. In this line, Wordsworth’s emotions are exposed to the reader. As a contrast, this type of powerful emotion is not shown in Blake’s poem. This is maybe because Wordsworth was going through a very important stage of his life, as he was just about to visit his son, who he rarely saw.
Both the poems are about the poets’ interpretations of London. It is very interesting however, because when Wordsworth returns from France later in 1802, he sees London in a different light. The poem, ‘London, 1802’, written by Wordsworth, shows completely different views about London than in his earlier poem.
Blake’s poem is extremely critical towards London, as in nearly every line the city is undermined. Ironically, Wordsworth’s view of London is more pleasant and complimentary than Blake’s, and this is unusual as he came from the Lake District. Both poems express different opinions about London, but my favourite has got to be ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’. This is because the style in which Wordsworth writes allows his feelings towards the city to be interpreted in more than one way.
