How do selected poets use language to create a sense of place? You should refer to all the poems you have studied.

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How do selected poets use language to create a sense of place? You should refer to all the poems you have studied.

We have studied a variety of poems all related to the Great Fire of London and London’s surroundings and impact. These poems all tell of the poets’ views of London from 1700 to 1850.

The poems I studied were “The Fire of London” by John Dryden written some time between 1666 and 1700. “A City Fire” by John Gay written between 1685 and 1732, “London” and “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3rd 1802” both written by William Wordsworth between 1770 and 1850, “January, 1795” by Mary Robinson written between 1758 and 1800, and finally “London” by William Blake written in 1794. Each of these poems are similar in content, with each poet giving their own individual opinion and impression of what life was like in London at the time.

“London” by William Wordsworth tells of the buzzing atmosphere that epitomises the City around the time, “Thou endless stream of men and moving things!” This helps to give the reader the impression that London was swarming with people going about their everyday lives and full of business.

Civil War had broken out in 1642 when the mercantile class demanded that some of the monarch’s power be passed to Parliament. Puritans under Oliver Cromwell dominated the successful Commonwealth. The Puritans outlawed simple pleasures, such as dancing and theatre, so it was with no surprise that the return of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660 was welcomed and released many creative energies. The period was, however, also marked with two major tragedies: the Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire in 1666.  

Both “The Fire of London” and “A City Fire” are written about the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Accidental fires were common in London around the time as open fires were used for all sorts of jobs, also in houses for warmth and in workshops to make tools and chains. Timber was the most common building material and authorities were aware of the danger that could come of this because of the high likelihood of the fires spitting and the wood catching fire. This is exactly what happened on Sunday, 2nd September in 1666.

The Great Fire of London began in the King’s own bakery in Pudding Lane when fire broke out of one of the baking ovens. The fire raged through the city for four days and nights, then finally stopped when the wind dropped and the flames lost intensity and broke up, meaning they could now be doused and extinguished.

“The Fire of London” by John Dryden tells what happened during The Great Fire of London in 1666, from the moment of its birth to the eventual and gradual disappearance of the last flames. The poem is written in first person so it sounds as if Dryden was actually there at the time and experienced first hand what happened during the fire on the narrow, wooden-housed streets of London.

The poem begins with a first stanza full of adjectives describing the noises and power of the beginning of the fire along with where all the citizens of London were at the time it began. “At length the crackling noise and dreadful blaze” The word ‘crackling’ is onomatopoeia because the way it is said is how it sounds; the fire was a series of crackles.

When the fire first began, everyone in the city of London was asleep. “Whose heavy eyelids yet were full of night.” Noone was aware of the fire starting so any first attempts to douse the flames could not take place. If they did or the fire started at a more appropriate time of day when the city was ‘awake’, the fire could have been prevented and therefore could not have reached the deadly scale that it unfortunately did.

Stanza 2 begins with Dryden describing how the fire chased the frightened citizens throughout the fire-burdened streets of London. They were “half-clothed, half-naked”, and did not have the time to dress and gather a few personal belongings before the fire swept them all away.  

Many helpless children were tragically murdered by the disastrous accident that the Great Fire ultimately was; “And frighted mothers strike their breasts too late, For helpless infants left amidst the fire.”

In stanza 7, the fire had now spread to the River Thames, which was described as “shining waters gaze”, this is because the river was now full of boats and ships trying to escape the flames.  It looked as if it was on fire because the reflections of the flames in the city are shimmering on the waters uneven surface, which made it glow eerily.

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Throughout the rest of the poem, personification is used on a big scale. “Old Father Thames raised up his reverend head” In stanza 8, the River Thames is described as being a person when, obviously, it is not. By using this method, personification can help bring the poem to reality and give the reader a more clear and personal view of what was actually happening at the time that the events in the poem took place. Also in stanza 8, the word ‘Simois’ is used.

“But feared the fate of Simois would return”.

This word comes from the ...

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