Blake 'London' (Experience) Flashcards
Context
What does Blake explore in this poem?
Context
Why does Blake choose to explore this?
Form and structure
What is the form and structure of Blake’s ‘London’ (Experience)
- 4 quatrains
- Alternating rhyme scheme
- Iambic tetrameter
- Creates sound of someone walking.
- Poem is highly structured and controlled through its rhythm and rhyme.
Acrostic
“How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every black’ning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.”
Emphasises the sense of sound experienced by both the persona walking through London and the reader. Adds to the idea of synesthesia, with auditory signs of suffering throughout: “cry”, “sigh”, and “curse”.
Quote
Give a quote from lines 3 to 4 of Blake’s ‘London’ (Experience)
“And mark in every face i meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”
Interpretation
“And mark in every face i meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”
- “Marks” Diacope shows the restriction in london through the restriction of language - limited to only certain words.
- “weakness” and “woe” Polysemic alliteration, Been marked by weakness, and critiquing London as if it has damaged them.
Quote
Give a quote from lines 7 to 8 of Blake’s ‘London’ (Experience)
“In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear,”
Interpretation
“In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear,”
- “voice” Adds to auditory imagery and synesthesia that makes the reader feel as though they are walking in London.
- “ban” Polysemic = A limitation (ban), or a vow (bann).
- “mind” Demonstrates the pyschological torment tied to their city and social class - no social mobility.
- “forg’d” Industrial Revolution and God as the creator trying to reduce human’s to machinery.
- “manacles” Slave Trade. Links to Rosseau “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains”.
Quote
Give a quote from lines 15 to 16 of Blake’s ‘London’ (Experience)
“Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.”
Interpretation
“Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.”
- Line 15 = headless catalexis
- “new born Infant’s” Social immobility, born into poverty and won’t escape it
- “blights with plagues” Biblical allusion to the plagues of Egypt. The existence of young prositutes destroys the institution of marriage.
- “marraige hearse” semioxymoronic idea marriage is dying and people revert to prostitution.
Quote
Give a quote from line 10 of Blake’s ‘London’ (Experience)
“Every black’ning Church appalls,”
Interpretation
“Every black’ning Church appalls,”
Polysemic idea of the church being black due to pollution, and the idea of the corruption of religion.
