Explore the different ways the poets describe the city of London in their poems

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Louise Ward

Explore the different ways the poets describe the city of London in their poems. You should consider the poems equally and use the texts to support your ideas.

The poems ‘London’ by William Blake and ‘composed upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth are both a description of the same city, however they both take opposite viewpoints when describing their own perception.

    In the poem ‘London’, Blake takes a negative view of the city. He presents the people as being unhappy, in the first stanza he talks of  “marks of weakness, marks of woe” this suggests misery and perhaps failure. The negativity is emphasised by the repetition in the sentence and the alliteration on the w. Wordsworth however sheds a different light on the city, immediately showing appreciation. He uses some quite royal and perhaps religious language such as  “majesty” and “temples”. This is a suggestion towards the beauty underneath the normal images of London, portraying the city as being like a kingdom. It brings in the idea of belief, opposing the idea of “weakness” in Blake’s poem ‘London’.

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     In this poem, Blake talks of a “black’ning church” this suggests poverty and destruction. Blackened literally by the smoke and pollution in the air, and perhaps blackened metaphorically by the misery within the city. The colour black immediately brings bad thoughts to the mind, thoughts of danger and despair. On the contrary, Wordsworth appeals to the reader’s senses by describing the sun as “bright and glittering in the smokeless air”. This differs dramatically to Blake’s description as it brings a bright sense of colour to the mind and a feeling of warmth rather than hopelessness. It sets the ...

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