Compare and Contrast the Poems 'London'By William Blake And 'Composed UponWestminster Bridge' By William Wordsworth

Compare and Contrast the Poems ‘London’

By William Blake And ‘Composed Upon

Westminster Bridge’ By William Wordsworth

William Blake and William Wordsworth both wrote poems centred on London, both poets were middle class citizens. William Wordsworth was a romantic poet, who was raised in the countryside living a very rural life. Unlike William Blake who was a revolutionary poet born into a rebellious family in the city of London. William Blake refused to go to school and became aware of social injustice. William Wordsworth's dislike of urban life was a recurring theme in his poetry.

‘London’ is a poem written by William Blake, in the poem Blake describes how he views London, and the people living there, he presents himself as a participant in the life of a busy town. As he walks through London he describes what he sees.

‘I wandered through the chartered street’ it is not only the imagery that shows us Blake is walking through London it is the rhyme scheme he has used, ‘a b a b’ this scheme is regular as to imitate walking. Blake’s poem ‘London’ is written with for line in a stanza meaning it is a quatrain. This fits with the ‘a b a b’ rhyme scheme, as it is simple.

The tone of the poem is full of anger and hatred; Blake shows that behind poverty and despair he sees some thing else that is very important to him. London is ‘chartered’ the streets have become official; the Thames instead of being part of nature has become part of the establishment he so despised. To show this Blake uses oxymorons such as ‘chartered’ and ‘flow’. Another oxymoron used is ‘marriage hearse’. Hearse is used for funerals, when used in a sentence with marriage that is considered a happy event they are contradicting each other.

Blake also uses alliteration, to show the effects on everyone.

‘Marks of weakness, marks of woe’. He often repeats the word ‘every’ emphasising that everybody in the city is feeling this particular way. Blake uses the metaphor

‘And the hapless soldiers sigh Runs in blood down palace walls’ to show that the palace have sent the soldiers out to fight and now the palace has ‘blood on their hands’ as they are guilty for the death of many soldiers.

Blake uses symbolism in his poem, ‘black’ning church’ this gives a non-pure effect, Showing that the society is ...

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Blake also uses alliteration, to show the effects on everyone.

‘Marks of weakness, marks of woe’. He often repeats the word ‘every’ emphasising that everybody in the city is feeling this particular way. Blake uses the metaphor

Blake uses symbolism in his poem, ‘black’ning church’ this gives a non-pure effect, Showing that the society is turning away from faith and religion.

‘How the youthful harlot’s curse Blasts the new-born infants tear’ within these two lines Blake may be trying to show how on the streets of London the cursing and profanities of the prostitutes are louder than a baby’s innocent cry. Alternatively, the baby may belong to the ‘harlot’ and therefore is crying for attention, creating the image of youthful innocence being destroyed. Childhood was an important theme in many of his poems.

Blake begins the poem by showing the suffering he is seeing on the streets ‘and mark in every face I meet’ he is showing how he tell how people are feeling by the expressions on their faces ‘marks of woe’. Blake then goes on to look beneath the surface to find causes of social injustice. He is appalled by the cries of suffering he hears on the streets of London.

‘Every black’ing church appals, And the hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace walls.’ Blake does not seem to believe the government are to blame for the suffering, he thinks our chains (manacles) are produced by our own minds. In a sense he is saying that we are all responsible for what is happening around us.

‘The mind-forged manacles I hear’ he is saying that the people of London are mentally trapped; he uses the word ‘hear’ although talking about some thing he is unable to hear. The reader is left with the assumption that Blake recognises sounds of cries and believes they sound like chains rattling, by doing this Blake shows he is looking into our minds to ask if we are to blame, he shows that he feels we are oppressed within our mind.

William Wordsworth seems to have a rather different perception of London as a city. Unlike Blake Wordsworth did not include himself as a participant in his poem, he looks on the city in a different light. Although he does suggest that the ‘beauty’ is impermanent. He does this in many ways, the first being the rhyme scheme and structure of the poem. This poem seems to take the form of a sonnet, as it has fourteen lines, eight of them forming an octet and six of them forming a sestet. Although it does not form a full sonnet as the veneer is not carried through. The last two lines do not rhyme.

‘Dear God! The very best houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!’ This is because he knows that his is not the full picture and that London is extremely different.

Blake’s view of the ‘chartered Thames’ differs from the view of Wordsworth.

‘The river glideth at his own sweet will’ Wordsworth views the river as a part of nature it is free to flow. Wordsworth's images also differ from those of Blake’s.

Wordsworth uses imagery from the natural world to describe man made events.

‘The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie.’ This creates an image of beauty, where as Blake’s images often created views of hatred and horror.

‘Open unto the fields’ another image Wordsworth uses shows how the beauty is transient,

‘This city now doth, like a garment wear’ this line shows how London is wearing the beauty of the morning. Wordsworth also shows how the sun plays a big part in the beauty of London,

‘Never did sun more beautifully steep’ Wordsworth shows that he feels it is only beautiful because of nature causes it to be so.

Wordsworth’s view may be more appealing as he can see the countryside,

‘Open unto the fields’ and Blake’s view is limited as he is on the streets,

‘I wander through every chartered street’. Blake lived in London and his poem shows him immersed in it. Wordsworth on the other hand was aware that he did not live there permanently, and shows this in his poem. Wordsworth with a metaphor ‘heart’ this could mean one of two things, either Wordsworth realises that the ‘heart’ is beginning to beat, wake up. It also reminds the reader that London is the ‘heart’ of the country, we are made aware that the smoke will soon emerge from factories beginning to start working, polluting the ‘smokeless air’. Although this last line is negative it is not as pessimistic as Blake’s ‘Marriage hearse’.