Compare and contrast the way London is presented in a selection of nineteenth century poems we have studied.
I will be discussing three poems that support the negative side of London, and they will start with the dramatic poem called ‘London’ then, after that it will be a similar poem called a ‘A Dead Harvest In Kensington Gardens’. Lastly I will be making a reference to the poem called ‘Symphony in Yellow’. All of these poems that comment about London, give either a positive or negative view on it. It is really surprising that the poems give a very beautiful and modern London a bad and negative view. This suggests that the writer is giving his own opinion or view on ‘London’.
‘London’. This poem is 4×4 line stanzas with a regular rhyme scheme. This poem shows a negative side of London. This negative view is described by repetition through out the poem, e.g. ‘cry’, ‘marks’, (used in triples), ‘chartered, (official document giving certain right to person/organization). The pace of this is fast. The city/London is presented as a really bad and influenced city that every man and child hates, there is a lot of evidence to support this point such as, ‘in every cry of every man, in every infant’s cry of fear, in every voice, in every ban, the mind-forged manacles is hear’. The writer talks about all the negative emotions which he sees in the people on the street. This repetition gives a really bad impression of London to the reader which is what the writer is actually getting across.