Compare and contrast 'London' and 'Composed upon Westminster Bridge'.
London and Westminster Bridge After reading William Wordsworths’ poem, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” and William Blakes’ “London”, I tried to strip each down to its basic meanings. Each poem had similar meaning along with different characteristics. I looked at each poem in simplest text possible and got the same theme from each. From two points of view on London, it seems to be agreed, that during this time period, London was full of defeat and sorrow. In breaking down the first poem, “London, 1802”, I first saw its general theme to be about England not being what it once was. Even the men of England have lost what they once were. The author writes to Milton. I do not know who this is, but can only assume that it was someone the author must have thought highly of. The reason for this is the way he tells him that England needed him. He then
refers to him as if he had taken some godly path in life…possibly death. The last line was something that interested me as well. It says, “So didst thou travel on life’s common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.” I took this to be a question directed at Milton, asking if he was able to “go” peacefully, even with the burden of England on his heart. The author also describes what has happened to London, England. He calls her a fen with stagnant waters. I get a swampy image in my ...
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refers to him as if he had taken some godly path in life…possibly death. The last line was something that interested me as well. It says, “So didst thou travel on life’s common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.” I took this to be a question directed at Milton, asking if he was able to “go” peacefully, even with the burden of England on his heart. The author also describes what has happened to London, England. He calls her a fen with stagnant waters. I get a swampy image in my head when I hear this. The men are made out as selfish, still with hopes of having it all. I think the downfall of the men is directly related to the downfall of England. I also thought it was interesting how he refers to England as “she”. To me, by calling it she, it gives imagery of England being once delicate and now helpless. The only irony I found in the poem was the fact that he says, “we are selfish men” in a regretful manner, but then asks for “virtue, freedom, and power” in a selfish way. The second poem, “London”, has the same feel to it. It is apparent that England has fallen on hard times and sorrow. It generally speaks of observations while walking by the Thames. I noticed that while describing what he sees and hears, he uses the word “cry” a lot. “In the cry of every man, In every Infant’s cry of fear, and How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry”. Crying is usually connected with children. When the author uses it for man as well as Infant, I think that he brings the child-like quality out in man. In describing “blood down Palace walls”, I think it signifies the defeat or corruption in the monarchy. I feel like this poem is straight to the point in what England has become. When the two poems are compared, obviously the first similarity is that they are about the same thing. London is in a depressing state and each poem expresses that. On this note, each also gives insight to how it affects the people. “London, 1802”, states how the men have given up their inward happiness. “London” has a line in the fist verse that says, “And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe.” The basic tone of each poem is sadness. They both use the same imagery to describe this depression and use it well.However, in contrast to each other, I was able to find more. First of all, “London, 1802” is actually speaking to someone in particular. Not only this, but they are speaking to Milton as if to ask for help. “London” is simply a generalization of observations. “London, 1802” also gives the feel like the author wants something to be done to assist the situation. “London”, on the other hand, calls for no resolution to the problem. It is basically about what is seen and heard, but not what anyone can do to change it. Blake’s poem also is more about the town of London and the people in it. It definitely focuses more on the people specifically. Wordsworth’s poem seems to be more about England itself. It briefly discusses the people, but in a way that deals with him personally as opposed to what he sees. Even the structure of each poem is completely different. “London” is basically every other line in each verse rhyming. “London, 1802” has a strange, unorganized rhyme pattern. Each poem has a different focus in whole.It was hard to compare and contrast two poems when I don’t know as much about it as I should. At first I thought they would compare more just by reading the title and glancing at the poem itself. Instead, I got a deeper insight by breaking each one down to see what they each had to offer. I found the two perspectives to be interesting and personable. Although, in the end I think each poem could easily go hand in hand in telling the basic sorrows of London, England.
