Blake like cotemporary Romantic poets such as Shelley and the young Wordsworth were in favour of views of the ‘French Revolution’, and in this poem there are some examples of Blake’s extreme views, and his attempt to provide a total picture of a harsh culture in all aspects of London life. Although Wordsworth was against the political reaction like Blake, his composed poem, ‘Westminster Bridge’; written some ten years after Blake’s ‘London’ turned out to be a complete contrast to the theme Blake conveyed. William Wordsworth believed ‘Earth hadn’t anything to show more fair’ than the image of London. It seems that Wordsworth went out of his way to express the wonderful qualities which London offered.
Wordsworth puts London’s best face forward in picking up the air of calmness in London and stating the beauty of monuments and buildings. There is a difference of opinion between him and Blake in the ideas they convey of the capital city, London. His idealistic views may have been brought about by himself not actually living in London at that current time; his understanding may be diverse to alternative citizens who actually lived and went through this period in London itself. He wrote the poem back in the Lake District, and this is a perfect example of ‘emotion recollected in tranquillity.’ The poem is set on a bridge overlooking the city from afar in the early hours of ‘the beauty of the morning.’ As a result, he sees no people, only the houses and buildings ‘glittering’ along with ‘the smokeless air’. Blake on the other hand is walking through the streets of London, witnessing ‘blackening church appalls’ and ‘blooded down palace walls’ – therefore his perspective is on the people and their miserable lives. These aspects play a big factor in their theme of writing.
In this poem Wordsworth is describing the skyline above the river Thames and expressing how overwhelmed he is by the brilliance of London by saying, ‘A sight so touching in its majesty’. Moreover, Wordsworth puts his belief of man being skilful and able to do accomplish things into practice, where he signifies that London is a place of tranquillity and stability. ‘Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples’ are all a great work of man’s inventions. He believes that London is such a city that nobody could possibly pass through it without seeing such ‘splendour’ in its ‘valleys, rocks or hills’, without noticing the magnificence it conveyed. The regard is so high for London that he personifies the city, by emphasizing the word ‘city’ and describing it ‘like a garment, wear the beauty of the morning: silent, bare.’ Wordsworth in the last line of the sonnet where he says ‘All bright and glittering in the smokeless air’; here through personification he comments on the strength and stability that London holds. This passionate honour for London shows that when he composed the poem he felt true admiration for the city.
Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ unlike ‘London’ and ‘Westminster Bridge’ engages more directly with man’s ambition and vanity rather than focusing on a description of a particular place. ‘Ozymandias’ deals directly with the theme of time and change whereas the other two deal with it indirectly. Shelley could well have been influenced by the downfall of Napoleon’s empire from 1810-1815 and in addition the end of George the third’s reign in this same time span. Napoleon’s gigantic empire which was considered to be ‘unbreakable’ fell apart in under half a decade, and through his writing we can see that Shelley himself was deeply affected by this phenomenon that rocked both hemispheres. He shows some of these concepts in his poem of ‘Ozymandias’ where he looks at the downfall of a super power that seemed so tremendous in its time.
In this poem Shelley concentrates on mankind and the immense pride it takes in itself. It looks at man’s ambition of ruling the world and how it so inadequately fails and its vanity destroyed. The statue of ‘Ozymandias’ is described as ‘Two vast and trunk less legs of stone’ that stand without a body; representing a man of power, a dictator with a huge powerful empire that has collapsed. All that remains is ‘a shattered visage’ which lies ‘half sunk’ in the sand with its face showing a ‘wrinkled lip’ and ‘a sneer of cold command’. This view symbolizes the big-headed figure of man. The whole poem focuses on the crushed, broke statue in the desert wilderness, with its conceited, zealous and extreme message (“Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!”). This once great king’s boast of unlimited power had been removed, all his effort and pride had disappeared and ‘Nothing beside remains’ shows the importance of that arrogant king, as around the broken statue ‘boundless and bare’, ‘the lone and level sands stretch far away’. The implication Shelley is attempting to put across is that no matter how powerful something may seem at a certain moment in time, it will undoubtedly fall by the forces of time and nature, so don’t assume power will last forever.
The poem of Ozymandias illustrates that time is powerful and it doesn’t wait or care about how large or enormous man’s vanity may have been at a certain time but just carries on. This idea can be linked with Lyte’s ‘Abide with me’ This poem is mainly about the loss of faith in the world and the connection which links this poem with that of ‘Ozymandias’ is how Lyte expresses his need for God’s help because he cannot trust man’s achievement as ‘earths joys grow dim and its glories pass away’. Lyte sees no real faith in earthly affairs and this is comparable with Shelley where he expresses how as time moves on all splendid and famous things fade away without a sight. Lyte appears to be asking God to take this ‘change and decay ‘away from his eyes and ‘abide with him’. An additional connection that links to Ozymandias is where Lyte mentions ‘Earth’s vain shadow fleeing’, this is related to where in Ozymandias it says ‘Nothing beside remains’; they both convey the ineffectiveness of man’s efforts and arrogance as his motives change as time continues.
This and the next poem mentioned in this essay both deal with mankind’s faith waning. Lyte and Arthur Clough may have been influenced by events which took place around this time when their poems were composed, which may lead us to the answer why they wrote with such passion and anger towards society. 1859 saw the release of a controversial book by Charles Darwin, ‘The Origin of the Species’. Moreover, Sir Charles Lyell had previously echoed Darwin’s idea by representing the geological explanation of the theory a little earlier in 1830’s. These were all based on how man was originated from apes and was not really created by God.
Clough’s poem of ‘The Latest Decalogue’ is instantly recognizable as being a parody of the Ten Commandments which appear in the bible; it is based on the theme of Victorian hypocrisy, and the materialism of society. Clough mimics the views of man in society, condemning humanity’s selfish and covetous ambition, and attacks materialism, commercialism and capitalism.
The first example is a perfect example of Clough ridiculing Victorian values suggesting that man should have only one god because ‘who would be at the expense of two?’ Also In the second commandment it expresses that ‘no graven images may be worshipped, except the currency’. This is deeply criticising British culture for worshipping money and not god. The last commandment expresses that people ‘should not covet, but tradition approves all forms of competition’. This is clearly condemning British obsession of competition with its rivals in all areas of society. Clough directs criticism at Victorian society and states that he feels they have lost real faith and are falling off the track of religious conduct and principles.
Another poem about waning of faith in Victorian England is Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold which was published in 1867 and may have well been influenced by Lyell’s geological findings or Darwin’s controversial ideas. This poem is set in a house overlooking Dover Beach where a loved one is present with him. The scene is purposely set in the first stanza to give the reader a more vivid and clear image of what the situation and account occurring actually is. The sea which Arnold is sighting is said to be ‘calm’ on the ‘tranquil bay’. The setting is at night and as he senses ‘the sweet night-air’ the sound of ‘the grating roar of pebbles’ washes up and down the shore with the outgoing tide; this suggesting that as the tide retreats so does faith. Arnold is feel s an ‘eternal note of sadness’ despite the apparent calmness of this peaceful night. In the next canto there is an actual example of change in time that develops, where Arnold’s thoughts take him back to the ‘Sophocles’ in ancient Greece where Here he looks back at what used to be. He shows us that he has chosen to believe in God and he likens this idea of faith to the sea that circles around the earth, as he believes that faith did once also circle round people’s lives in a similar fashion.
Arnold shows a real depth of concern that society’s faith is waning considerably, and he sums this up with the image of a ‘melancholy’ sea with its ‘grating roar’. The last stanza conveys Arnold’s vision of mankind’s experience, ‘which seems to lie like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new’. He believes that ‘we are here as on a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, where ignorant armies clash at night’. This poem is basically starting to look back at the old times where there used to be a presence of faith in the life’s of people in society, and this theme is continued in Thomas Hardy’s poems which were composed around the late 19th century and early 20th century. ‘The Impercipient’ is a perfect example of loss of faith as Hardy describes himself as ‘blind’ and cannot visualise the reason others possess belief and faith. He begins to look back to his childhood where things used to be so different but now he feels totally out of place, ‘like a glazer who should mark an inland company’. ‘The Oxen’, also by Hardy conveys the idea of an almost complete loss of faith as it portrays how in his present days ‘In the lonely barton by yonder coomb, our childhood used to know.’
The poems mentioned in this essay convey various themes which link to the main idea of time and change. As time passes through the nineteenth century, a change of opinion occurs in people’s attitudes and in society in general. Cataclysmic events which occurred in this time span may well have influenced the views and thoughts of the poets towards man and society. The earlier poems start with man’s ambition and faith, and by the time of Shelley and Lyte things start to get unclear and ambiguous. Around the time of Arnold, life becomes even more uncertain as man’s faith starts to wane considerably. Eventually by the time of Hardy, man and society begin to look back at what used to be and attempt to start to fix things up once again and rebuild a faithful culture. The poets enhance their writing to put across their arguments vividly by uses several intricate adjectives and phrases, which develop their writing. The use of imaginary is poignant for the reader as it makes them aware of the theme being introduced; moreover, the use of several poetic techniques, such as ABABA line rhyming, personification, alliteration, metaphors and similes are included in the poems of most of the poets.
