How do William Blake and William Wordsworth convey their ideas about London in their poems 'London' and 'Westminster Bridge'?
How do William Blake and William Wordsworth convey their ideas about London in their poems 'London' and 'Westminster Bridge'? William Blake was born in 1757 into a middle class family. His father was working as a hosier but his mother was keen and the one in charge to educate his son well. Religion had a strong influence on Blake. He started reading the bible from an early age and this gave him inspiration in his later life; he apparently had visions of angels when he was young. He had a talent in drawing and had an endless appetite for reading, especially poetry. During his early career he became a professional engraver and rebelled against contemporary painters e.g. Josh Reynolds, Rubens etc. Later on he married an illiterate French woman called Catherine Butcher in 1792 and was later taught how to read and write and to engrave. Blake used to combine both his art and literacy skills when writing poems which helped other people understand the poem or to create a picture in your mind. In 1827 he died and was buried in Bunhill fields in London. Blake is still remembered as "the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". William Wordsworth was born in 1770 in Cumberland in the Lake District with both of his parents dying when he was very young. He was then brought up by his uncles and during this time he felt very isolated and worried. However in 1787 he went to St John's
Compare the ways in which the poets present people in Night of the Scorpion and Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful people in a Mercedes.
Compare the ways in which the poets present people in Night of the Scorpion and Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful people in a Mercedes. In Night of the Scorpion, the title is in some ways deceptive. It leads us to believe we are in for a frightening and dramatic tale with a scorpion taking centre stage. In fact, the poem is not about the scorpion at all, but about the reactions of different people to its sting. The poem starts off in the first person when Ezekiel describes an event that really happened. However, he does not give his own feelings or reactions: we realise he is merely the narrator even though it is his mother who is being stung. Most of the poem is in the third person, as Ezekiel reports on what other people do and say. He does not portray the scorpion as a villain: it was driven to shelter 'beneath a sack of rice' after ten hours of rain and that it was only protecting itself from the rain. It probably stung the mother instinctively as a warning to her when she approached its hiding place, rather than harming her on purpose. Having delivered the sting and scared off by the people indoors, 'he risked the rain again'. The title of Two Scavengers shows us straight away that the poem will be about the contrasts between two pairs of people. 'Scavengers' is an offensive term for the garbage men because it suggests that they live off the rubbish of others -
As a part of my English G.C.S.E coursework
As a part of my English G.C.S.E coursework I have to analyse and contrast two poems; the first is 'Cousin Kate' by Christian Georgina Rossetti, and the second is Seduction by Elaine McAuley. 'Cousin Kate' is set in the Victorian ages. It is about a young, beautiful working class maiden, who is taken away from her simple life by a lord, to a life of riches and luxuries. She lives a very shameful life because she lives with him and is sexually active with the lord before marriage. She even has a child with him. The maiden's much more attractive cousin appears and the lord is intrigued by her. He leaves the maiden for Kate. The poem has a twist at the end; Cousin Kate is only interested in his money, but she cannot conceive any children for him, and the maiden already has a son of the lord's and he will inherit his father's wealth and land as his heir. A once poor cottage maiden will now live the life of luxury again but in the right way. In 'I was a cottage maiden', by using 'I', I can tell that the poem is in first person and is being told from the victim's perspective; this also gives the reader access to the narrator's thoughts and feelings. The poem is in past tense. 'Cottage' emphasises that she is from a working class background and 'maiden' suggests that she is a virgin, but being in past tense, the use of the word 'was' indicates that she is no more. 'Hardened by the
Comparing 'When we two parted' and 'On my first sonne'
Comparing 'When we two parted' and 'On my first sonne' The two stories are very similar because they have both lost someone. 'On my first sonne' is about a father who has lost his son when he was only 7 years old. 'When we two parted' is about two lovers having an affair and she is being gossiped about. The rhyming scheme in 'On my first sonne' is quite different to the one in 'When we two parted' as in my first sonne he doesn't finish the poem this could show that he is distraught about losing his son. In when we two parted where the rhyming scheme is as it is supposed to be e.g. a,b,a,b,a,b. There is a quote in my first sonne which says 'Seven years thou wert lent to me' This is saying that God only let him borrow his son for seven years only to be taken back. In when we two parted it is about an affair which turns wrong so the woman starts to be gossiped about in the town .She feels like an outcast as in those times it was bad enough to have sex while you was unmarried, and she has done it while she is unmarried and having an affair. While in my first sonne the first line tells us that Johnson considered him to be the child of his 'right hand', signifying the importance of the role that the child would have played had he grown older. In line 5 Johnson pours out his grief in the phrase 'O, could I loose all father', wishing that he did not have to take on the role of a
Compare and Contrast the representation of London in Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge September 3, 1802" and Blake's "London"
Compare and Contrast the representation on London in Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge September 3, 1802" and Blake's "London" Both Wordsworth and Blake both wrote their poems during industrialization in Britain and particularly and each tackles this issue at different angles. Wordsworth, the more romantic and idealistic poet decides to illustrate London when it as asleep and when industry is also at rest. Thus this poem is full f praise for London and its splendour. Blake however is far more hostile towards London and portrays it as a sickening and foul place which corrupts the young and innocent. The immediate contrast is that Blake describes London when it is night time and some would argue that this is the true London. The speaker in "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge" is clearly enchanted with London and it's beauty and uses a hyperbole to emphasis this. He also shapes his language in order to make the reader side with his point of view and an example of this would be in line two. Earth has not anything to show more fair Dull would be of sole who could pass by A sight to touching in its majesty The speaker uses the hyperbole of the opening line in order to state the view of which he will undoubtedly expand upon. The fact that he says that the Earth not man has not anything to show more fair is important as he is focussing on the natural element of
Australian Bushrangers Essay. Banjo Patterson and Will. H. Ogilvie presents the two deaths of well known bushrangers, Ben Hall and John Gilbert in poems How Gilbert died and The Death of Ben Hall.
What specific 'Australian' image/s are portrayed by the two poems? Compare the two poems and show how the composers differ/don't differ in their respective perspectives on the image/s. Australian images are portrayed though two similar poems that depict the deaths of Australian bushrangers. Bushrangers in the history of Australia have a special place in the hearts and the imaginations of Australians. Banjo Patterson and Will. H. Ogilvie presents the two deaths of well known bushrangers, Ben Hall and John Gilbert in poems 'How Gilbert died' and 'The Death of Ben Hall'. These composers portray iconic Australian images of Australian bushrangers, as well as the traitorous 'mates' that these bushrangers trusted, only to find out that they have been sold for the matter of greed. The composers cleverly represent the Australian images through intensified imagery and techniques throughout the poems to enforce the idea of the Australian image. Outlaw are remembered with pride and admiration rather than the contempt and hate that they probably deserved, as many were violent and ruthless criminals who made their livings by murdering and stealing. Their bravado, self reliance, adventurous lifestyle has appealed to generations of Australians, 'the smallest child on Watershed can tell you how Gilbert died'. Both composers depict the struggle the police had on capturing the two outlaws
Compare and contrast the presentation of seduction in Marvells" To his Coy Mistress" and Donnes "To his mistress going to bed".
The poems To His Coy Mistress (1650-1652) and To His Mistress Going To Bed (1635) which was written by Andrew Marvell and John Donne respectively, was written about a man trying to seduce a woman. In To his coy mistress, the speaker uses flattery, he compliments her natural beauty and body. The speaker compares her to valuable objects in order to make the lady feel special. The speaker also uses the age factor as a method of seduction as the life expectancy in the 1700’s was only 35 years. Similarly, in To his mistress going to bed, he uses flattery and words to make her feel special. Furthermore, both poems try to seduce the lady by not giving her time to think. However, he also uses differents methods to seduce the lady such as, showing empathy towards her and putting forward his male dominance. The speaker of To His Coy Mistress wants to sleep with the lady for passion and love whereas the speaker of To His Mistress Going To Bed wants to sleep with the lady in means of spiritual bonding. In the poem To His Coy Mistress, Marvell uses flattery and compliments to seduce his mistress. Firstly, the speaker refers to his mistress as a ‘ lady’ which, in the 1600s was a respectful term for women of his society. This shows that the speaker recognizes her status. This word is flanked by commas and this is caesura. The caesura causes the reader to pause, this emphasizes the
Show how "Kubla Khan" and "La Belle Dame sans Merci" create imaginative effects rather than specific themes and meanings. Describe your response to the poems, and explain how the writers create it.
ictl Show how “Kubla Khan” and “La Belle Dame sans Merci” create imaginative effects rather than specific themes and meanings. Describe your response to the poems, and explain how the writers create it. The poems “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and “La Belle Dame sans Merci” (The Beautiful Woman without Pity) by John Keats were both published during the early 19th century, although Kubla Khan was written in the late 1790s. Although the poems differ in many ways, they both depict many vivid images and both are ambiguous in meaning. Both also involve some sort of dream: “Kubla Khan” was written based on an opium-induced dream and the knight in “La Belle Dame sans Merci” has a dream on the hill’s side. Both Coleridge and Keats were poets of the English Romantic movement, and both focussed on emotion and natural surroundings in their poems. In “Kubla Khan”, Coleridge starts the poem in iambic tetrameter in the first four lines: “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man”. The first line features sound reversal: “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan” and the first two lines feature alliteration: “Kubla Khan” and “dome decree”. All of these features give the poem an introduction similar to an incantation. The “pleasure-dome” is described as
COMPARISON:Browning's Sonnet 43 and Byron's So, Well Go No More A-Roving
Theme of Love Sonnet 43 and So, We’ll Go No More A-Roving Sonnet 43 is a petrarchan sonnet written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the Victorian age. Through this sonnet she expresses her intense love for her husband, Robert Browning. Her love is shown sensual as well as emotional. It also appears to us that the Elizabeth Browning is reading this poem to her husband who is very sad at the moment. The poem starts with a rhetorical question, “How do I Love thee?” and the theme of love is replete in the poem. The word ‘love’ is used ten times in the sonnet. The sonnet is written with the rhyme scheme A B B A, A B B A, C D C, D C D. It is written in iambic pentameter. She briefly talks about the grief of her husband due to the death of his mother, as well as her own grief of leaving her father while eloping with her husband. She repeats the phrase “I love thee” eight times in the sonnet out of which thrice is one after the other (anaphora or repetition) and this phrase can be given the title of the poem. This sonnet was published under the title ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’. Her love for her husband is eternal, as she will love him even after her death and her love also shows her faith in the Christian ideology in the immortality of the soul. She says that her love for her husband is so deep that it is rendered immeasurable. Her love cannot be weighed and
How do the two Poets Anne Bronte and Thomas Hardy Use Naturalistic Imagery and Convey the Feeling of Pessimism in their Poems Song and The Darkling Thrush?
Lauren Goadby Comparative Essay – Pre. 1914 Poems - ‘Song’ & ‘The Darkling Thrush’… How do the two Poets Anne Bronte and Thomas Hardy Use Naturalistic Imagery and Convey the Feeling of Pessimism in their Poems ‘Song’ and ‘The Darkling Thrush’? In this essay I intend to compare the use of nature in ‘Song’ by Anne Brontë and ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy and look at how the poets convey the feeling of pessimism in their poems. Both of the poems have seemingly bleak outlooks with the theme of change, as well as the use of imagery of nature and animals. ‘Song’ was written in 1845 by Anne Brontë, with Thomas Hardy writing his poem, ‘The Darkling Thrush’, in around 1898 or 1899 ( – the dates exactly are often disputed as on the original poem they would appear to have been changed); however both poems were written before the turn of the 1900s. Anne Brontë came from a family whose fame was established through their use of the English language throughout their many novels and poems. Thomas Hardy was another great novelist, and poet, who was also encouraged at a very young age to pursue his interest in literature by his family – his mother in particular. ‘The Darkling Thrush’ is about the turn of the new century in the 1900 and is about how Hardy is unoptimistic about the future of