Blake’s use of effective imagery, such as ‘mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe.’ Blake uses visual imagery to full effect in the first stanza to describe the “faces” he meets. His use of words like “chartered”, “weakness” and “woe” describes vividly the sombre nature of the people he meets and of the streets on which he walks. Both the streets and Thames are described as ‘charter'd’, indicates that even the most public and natural features of the country are under the ownership of the rich; suggesting corruption in society and the repetitive use of the word, stresses Blake's anger at the political times and his feeling towards the ruling classes with their controlling laws and oppressive ways. He taunts in the poem to say that it is not only every street they want to control but even the River Thames which should normally be free for all but in this case it too is "charter'd". Blake’s use of language show the reader the spiritual and physical oppression the people of London suffer, such as 'mind forg-d' and 'blights' show the poems negativity and reflects the suffering within London. Wordsworth has chosen a more positive and complementary diction to match the tone of the poem. Wordsworth uses a lot of descriptive words with mostly gentle sounds rather than fricatives to reflect the calm nature of the poem, for example 'majesty' and 'glittering'. Wordsworth also uses references to nature such as 'sky', 'fields' and 'air' this again reinforces the beauty of the scene Wordsworth's words are painting and keeps with the tranquil tone of the poem. He also uses imagery, but to a completely different effect, with a great deal of personification throughout the poem, such as the Earth being given a capital letter, which describes it as having the ability to ‘show’. The sun is described as a ‘he’, which creates a powerful image, as does Wordsworth’s description of the morning beauty, ‘like a garment’. Wordsworth does not include aural imagery in his poem, unlike Blake, as he describes the beauty of the morning, ‘silent’ and ‘bare’. This emphasises the calm feeling of the occasion. Blake on the other hand, uses continual references to sound such as 'cry' and 'curse', which also supports the idea that London's people are trapped and they express their frustration through explosions of sound. Much of the second stanza is full of aural imagery – the use of the word ‘hear’ invites the reader to be attentive to aural phrases such as the ‘cry of every man’ and an ‘infant’s cry of fear’. Repetition is the most striking formal feature of the poem, and it serves to emphasize the prevalence of the horrors the speaker describes. There is not a lot of complex imagery but a few very powerful examples of the device, such as 'runs in blood down Palace walls' this is used to show the gap between the rich and poor which was something Blake himself was very concerned with. A number of other devices are used by Blake such as metaphors, for example 'The mind-forg'd manacles I hear', which is an example of tactile imagery in the poem too, symbolising society confiscating your freedom by manipulating one’s mind. Throughout most of the poem, the reader can tell that Wordsworth and Blake are very contrasting in the way they describe London. Wordsworth uses many naturist concepts, such as ‘Open unto the fields, and to the sky;’, whilst Blake’s viewpoint is that London is very mechanical and controlled. Although both use continual use of their chosen language type, they are talking about an identical place in such different ways.
'Composed upon Westminster Bridge' has a totally different form to that of 'London', as it is a petrachan sonnet and the rhyme scheme is not as basic and structured as the one used by Blake. It has a total of fourteen lines and is divided into an Octave and a Sestet. This form is pleasant for the reader to listen to which ties in with the idea that London is a pleasant place. From then he uses a combination of rhyme and sight rhyme to make the poem peaceful and affirmative, he also uses enjambment which helps the movement of the poem and so creates a more calming and tranquil tone to reflect the writers own attitude. In the sestet Wordsworth is very reflective on the scene he has just describe and in line eleven, the voice changed to 1st person, where the poets own opinions begin to show. This brings the reader into a direct insight into the feeling and attitudes to the writer, 'Ne'er saw I. Never felt, a calm so deep!’. This technique conveys his own feelings and evokes the same ideas in the reader's mind. In Blake’s poem, the poem has a total of sixteen lines which are split into 4 paragraphs with a rhyming AbAb pattern throughout the poem. By using this simple scheme the poem seems to be repetitive and regular. This may be used to illustrate London in terms of the city being quite dull and without life. The rigid rhyme scheme, different to that of the graceful flow of ‘Composed upon..’, and stanzas create a feeling of control whilst the pounding, unbreakable rhythm emphasises the sensation of someone marching or of something being dragged through the city. Every line consists of either seven or eight syllables and this gives the poem an automatic sound. As mentioned before, the meter, iambic tetrameter, creates a marching beat which, in turn, suggests the citizens of London are forced down like slaves. The form is also effective in the way it is simple and so does not distract from the message of the poem. These limits of form help to express the limits and restrictions of London and Blake is able to have such a compact and powerful poem through the word-choices and figurative language he employs.
In conclusion these are two contrasting poems, which have a common theme in the form of London, whilst in two very different perspectives. 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge' is London at a specific moment in time whereas 'London' is more general. 'Composed upon Westminster Bridge' is, as the title would suggest 'Composed' and the style and structure is complex and employs a number of techniques to create the desired effect and show the beauty of London as Wordsworth was looking at it. The poem has a quiet inspirational beauty that is created by the language and flowing structure of the poem. In comparison 'London' is of a far more simple structure and has less in terms of effect creating devices but the examples of metaphor and imagery for example are few but powerful. 'London' is a simple and effective poem which is expresses Blake’s conditions of the urban poor, their physical and spiritual misery and compared to 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge' is far less concerned with creating effect but more with getting the point across. This is perhaps a reflection on the writer, Wordsworth's view is masked by the fact he is a visitor to London seeing it in the morning, while it is 'asleep' and Blake has a clear and unobstructed view of the real London.
