In Blake’s ‘London’, he seems to concentrate more on the people who live within the city, whereas Wordsworth’s poem focuses on the nature and scenery of London. Blake portrays the citizens as being helpless and confined within the changing society. Men, children and everybody seems to be ‘crying’ out. In his synecdoche, he represents each person as a ‘face’ to which he sees the ‘marks of woes’ on. This could suggest that we are not individuals, as we are all together in this cry for help. To extend this further, he is also protesting against the shallowness of those who are ignorant of the unfortunate. He uses ‘infant’ to gain sympathy from the readers for those who are mistreated by the wealthy (for instance, the monarchy and the church, as cited in his poem) and the use of the term ‘youthful harlot’ also seems to suggest that the city has no regards to those who, though young, have to work for a living in such an appalling way. From a working-class background himself, Blake is able to empathize with the deprived, and therefore understand their sufferings from a similar viewpoint.
Blake believes that the people living in the tainted city are also dying. The comment about the soldier’s sigh, ‘running in blood’ suggests that inhaling the polluted air is one breath closer to death, which supports this notion.
Conversely, Wordsworth renders the buildings and nature of London to be as if they were human. The personified city seems to be alive, which differs from Blake’s dying populace rather discreetly. The city wears ‘like a garment’, a beautiful morning, which demonstrates the use of personification and also the validity of his romanticism.
In contrast to Blake’s dark use of words, Wordsworth uses abstract nouns, such as ‘love’ and ‘glory’, which is effective in producing a positive perspective on London’s ‘beauty’. In a more interesting contrast, Wordsworth describes London’s air as being ‘smokeless’, which is directly the opposite of what Blake envisions.
Though both poems are biased and only show one view of London, I find that Blake’s poem, though dark and negative, produces a more convincing view of London, especially considering the era of the literature. In the revolutionary period, London was indeed a place of pollution and shallowness to which Blake emphasises with rhetorical devices (such as the repetition of several emotive and powerful words).
Because of its excessive optimism, Wordsworth’s poem is more attractive than Blake’s poem. The use of strong, buoyant language is appealing and creates a more positive view of London for the reader. In comparison to “London”, by Blake, “Upon Westminster Bridge” portrays a very beautiful city, as if it were almost a fantasy. Blake’s vision of London is more realistic, which may be a reason for readers to feel that Wordsworth poem (due to its fictional-like nature), is more attractive.
