To clearly state the mood of the poems, the poets use different images. Wordsworth uses a lot of imagery to create the positive, feel-good mood. “And all that mighty heart is lying still!” Mighty heart is a metaphor used to sow London is the capital city of England, and is therefore the heart of the country, which links to Wordsworth’s mood of love. It implies that London is keeping the rest of the country going and is the very centre of the country. Writing that London is ‘lying still’ adds to the imagery of tranquillity and peacefulness. However, Blake continues to portray his negative mood in his poem with the use of imagery. “Mind forged manacles I hear” this shows that London is a very restricted place and nobody had any freedom. Manacles are what convicts wore and almost compared the citizens of London to convicts. “Mind forged manacles” suggests that everyone was restrained from thinking differently, and weren’t allowed to have opinions. No on had the power to get out of the situation they were in. Almost as if they cant even imagine a way out of them.
Both poets continue to show the moods of their poem with the use of colour. Wordsworth does not mention any colours specifically, but does describe the air to be ‘Bright’ and ‘Glittering’ and ‘Smokeless’ which suggests that its colourless but sparkling clear and pure. Blake uses colours in his poem to continue his negative feel to London. He uses the colour black which symbolises death, but another meaning could be the ‘Black death’ which devastated the country in the 14th century. Blake is trying to say that London is still full of the pain and mortality that there was when the Black Death Struck. Another colour used in his poem is red. He mentions blood, ‘And the hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace walls’. Blood, which is obviously red, symbolizes pain and suffering throughout London. Also, it could be referring to the soldiers that were sent to war by Prince Regent. When the soldiers returned from war they would have to fend for themselves. There were many protests about the war when people would graffiti the palace walls to express their views.
In ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’, Wordsworth makes exclamations. ‘Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;’ this shows that he is so shocked and amazed by the beauty of London, he cries it out. It also shows he is really deeply touched by the city. Also, Wordsworth uses assonance to show the mood of his poem. The words Hill, Will and Still are all very serene words. Wordsworth uses them to create a sense of tranquillity in the poem, and to show the calmness of the city.
In Blake’s poem ‘London’, he uses the repetition of the word ‘every’. Repeated in three out of four lines in the second stanza, the word ‘every’ creates a sense of monotony and suggests that everyone is trapped in the same position. Also, Blake uses monosyllabic words such as cry, curse, tear and ban in his poem to continue the monotony. The use of these words also makes the London feel more restrained.
Both Blake and Wordsworth’s poems were set around a certain type of day, which could be the heavy influence of the mood of the poems. Wordsworth wrote his poem in the morning “the beauty of the morning, silent; bare”. This shows he wrote the poem on Westminster Bridge in the morning. It suggests that that in the morning, the city is peaceful and tranquil. The word ‘Bare’ suggests that the town is almost naked because there is nobody around. However, Blake’s poem is set at night ‘Midnight streets’. It is ideal that this poem is set at night because it is a key factor on mood setting. Midnight is usually related to bad things happening, like the witching hour, so it effectively adds to the negative feel of the poem. Usually most dangerous and shady acts happen at night when it’s late at dark.
William Wordsworth and William Blake both came from different parts of the country. Wordsworth came from the Lake District so he looked at London from the perspective of an outsider/tourist. As he was sitting on Westminster Bridge, he only got a look at the city from a distance, and never saw the city close up. ‘Ne’er I saw a calm so deep’ this shows that he hasn’t seen anything so tranquil and peaceful ever before. Furthermore, because he lived in the Lake District, a very tranquil place, London must have been peaceful if he has never seen anything calmer!
On the other hand, Blake was born in London and grew up in London: he was an insider to the city’s dark side. Blake had grown up with the poverty and new what it felt like to be trapped in London. In his poem he looked at poverty and the troubles facing the city and citizens that only an insider would see. ‘I wander’ this shows that he IS wandering and walking through the streets and he IS there where all the inside action is happening, whereas Wordsworth was just looking at the city, not inside.
Another difference between the poems ‘London’ and ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ are the buildings mentioned. In his attempt to promote and praise London, Wordsworth mentions attractive buildings, ‘towers, domes, theatres and temples’. This suggests that all the buildings in London are big, grand, and wealthy. This links in with London being seen as royal and regal, because royals are rich and all the buildings mentioned are wealthy and only wealthy people go to them. Although that wasn’t entirely true, Wordsworth probably believed it was as he was writing on a bridge and the buildings he would have been able to see most clearly are tall ones, i.e. towers, domes, theatres and temples. Also, if there are temples in London, this suggests that the city is holy and religious and in increases the mood. Blake criticizes the buildings. ‘Every blackening church appals’. This could have several meanings. It shows that they church has been marked with poverty just as much as the citizens have been. Metaphorically, it suggests that the church is becoming evil and falling from grace due to the corruption in London. Also, it could be a literal statement about the church. The church has been stained black by the pollution on the city. It is an oxymoron as Blake writes about a ‘Blackening Church’. Churches are usually seen as light, bright, and holy, whereas black is seen as negative and deadly: the opposite of a church, hence it contradicts itself. Also, the word ‘every’ suggests that all churches are the same. ‘Runs in Blood down palace walls’
In ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’, there is no sound mentioned. Wordsworth states that London is ‘Silent’ which adds to the tranquillity of the city. On the other hand, Blake writes about the negative sounds he hears as he walks through London. ‘Soldiers Sigh’ ‘Cry of Fear’, these are all very negative sounds that are linked to pain and suffering. This shows that the people of London were depressed and fed up of the corruption and living in poverty. If people are crying of fear this suggests that there is something to be very afraid of. Perhaps it’s the physical effects of poverty causing them to cry, or the emotional effects frightening them as they know they are trapped and cannot escape.
Blake writes about different people in his poem to criticise London. “How the youthful harlots curse”. Here Blake is talking about the problem with prostitutes. The legal age of consent was thirteen. The word ‘curse’ suggests sexually transmitted diseases, and shows that these girls as young as thirteen are cursed with STD’s and are passing them around. It could also literally mean they are swearing and cursing. Also, Blake writes about children crying “In every infant’s cry of fear”. This instantly creates sympathy for the use of ‘infant’ makes the reader feel sorry for the child. It makes the poem more powerful because it makes the reader feel guilty that the infant is crying because it is suffering in poverty and nobody is doing anything to stop it.
In both poems, there are references to the river Thames. However they are both very different views of it. Wordsworth, who was sitting on Westminster Bridge when he wrote his poem, stated that the river was free. “The river glideth at his own sweet will” this shows that the river is full of life and is free to flow where it wants. Wordsworth uses personification to bring the river to life. He writes ‘his’ which shows that the river is male and living, and that it chooses to go where it wants to and not be controlled by anything else. On the other hand, unlike Wordsworth, Blake criticises the river for being controlled, “Near where the chartered Thames does flow”. Charters were granted to powerful and wealthy people to control streets, so this shows that the river is restricted and controlled. You can’t control a river. It implies that nothing is free, because if a river is controlled by the rich, anything can be controlled by the rich- even the poor people’s lives.
In Wordsworth’s poem, the structure significantly adds to the feel of the poem. It has fourteen lines, and is therefore a sonnet. Sonnets are usually love poems written about women so this shows that his love for London is just as strong as his love for any woman, if not stronger. The poem is divided into an octave and a sestet; the octave involves eight lines, and the sestet has six.
On the other hand, whilst Wordsworth’s poem is a positive sonnet, Blake’s mood is set with a restrained structure. It is written in four stanzas; creating a restrictive feel as the poem is separated into blocks. This links in with the image of ‘chartered’ streets and rivers, meaning the poem is just as restrained as the city was. Blake also uses a fixed rhyme scheme. He uses repetitive words, and rhyming words to give it the restricted feel to it. He uses an ‘unstressed, stressed’ rhythm but changes it in the third stanza to make certain syllables stand out. One example of unstressed/stressed is ‘In EVery CRY of EVery MAN’. He stresses the most important words and syllables. But for effect, he changes it to stressed/unstressed ‘HOW the CHIMney SWEEPers CRY’. Blake stresses the most important words that are linked to the sorrowful mood. He uses iambic tetrameter.
Both Blake and Wordsworth wrote very different poems, but with the one similarity, the same idea in mind: to tell the world about the city. It is clear that Blake had a very negative attitude towards and wrote about the pain and suffering, because he had lived there all his life and had seen exactly what went on. Wordsworth’s was so different to Blake’s. Personally, I think Blake’s poem ‘London’ was a lot more powerful than Wordsworth’s poem, because it is so negative and painful. Wordsworth’s is complimenting the city, and we often take things that we like for granted, so personally I don’t think his poem is as effective. Whereas with Blake’s, as humans we tend to pay attention to pain and suffering, which really makes the poem stand out. However, with each poet writing from opposite opinions, it’s hard to tell which poem is most precise and truthful about the changes that were happening in London.
Sophie Milner
