London Flashcards
Who was the poet that wrote London ? Give some info on Blake
William Blake
- respected Christianity but disliked the church
- lived in London
- died in 1827
- often wrote about reveling and misuses of class
Give a summary of the poem ?
A critique of human power as Blake aims to expose the distance between those in power and the suffering. the suffering is indexable and all around as it is caused by the misuse of power
What is the context for the poem?
Industrial Revolution
- widespread change
- marked a shift from country to city life
- factories, child labor and appealing conditions
- nature was being ruined- London became covered in smoke
How can we analyze the form of the poem ?
Written in the ballad form
- ballad usually being upbeat in conventional poetry Blake subverts our expectations by using it ironically
- he aimed to depict the overly optimism view of the upper class yet also depict the harsh and bleak reality that many faced by using the ironic use of the ballad
How can we analyze the structure of the poem ? (With this poet you also need to think about a word that is repeated a lot aswell)
Written in quatrains and ABAB rhyme scheme
- tightly controlled and reparative
- the repetitive structure and rhyme are symbolic of the repetitive suffering of Londoners during the industrial era
- Emphasized by the poets repetition of ‘Every’
- the life of suffering is inescapable and widespread
How does the poet implement another structural point and why ? (Think repetition)
- stanza 1-2 is suffering
- 3 focuses on the cause and highlight the church and monarchy
- 4 focus back on suffering
- implements a cyclical structure with further highlights the repetitive suffering and how it’s inescapable
How can we analyze the meter ?
- iambic tetrameter
- mimics the sounds of footstep or heat beats
- we are invited to see the suffering through the speakers eyes as we are forced into the narrative
What are the four big imagery points for suffering ?
What are the two others points that can be used to reinforce them
‘Charter’d Thames’
The end image of a ‘marriage hearse’
‘Mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, makes of woe’
Repetition of every ‘ Every cry’ ‘in every infants’ ‘in every voice’
REINFORCE POINTS
- the hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace walls’
- ‘ the mind forged manicals’
What is the best quote that shows nature being controlled and suffering ?
Charter’d Thames
- a charter being a document so here Blake suggests even the Thames itself has been controlled by the Industrial machine
- nature is owned which juxtaposes the idea of natures fluidity of power
- therefore ironic as nature cannot be controlled
- the Thames is a river so it is a satirical attack on property ownership and therefore an attack on human power and control
- juxtaposition between nature and man as they try to control something that is not controllable
How can we analyze the end image ?
‘Marriage hearse’
- juxtaposition between pastoral and anti pastoral imagery
- marriage and death
- suggest the old London has been destroyed and has died
- it is a powerful and deeply bitter ending to a poem and shows a further challenge by Blake against the Industrial Revolution
How can we analyze the quote that shows facial imagery ?( good point for suffering and critique of power)
‘Marks in every face I meet, marks of weakness,marks of woe’
- repetition of determiner every conveys the widespread suffering
- repetition therefore highlights the repeated suffering that has become so normalized and repetitive in London it has taken on a physical mark
- the change in meaning of mark conveys Blake’s anger at the changes occurring in London by those in power
How can we analyze the repeated use of every ? Tie the point together with the idea of chains
‘Every cry’ ‘every infants ‘ every voice’
- the speaker suggests that the suffering is totally widespread and dominates Londoners lives
- he envisages this suffering as ‘mine forged manicles’
- read is shocked at this imagery
-Blake then suggests there are a multitude of reasons for these manacles however he suggests they can be broken free of
- link to the Swiss philosopher George Rouso
How does Blake suggest those in power such as the government are to blame?
‘The hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace walls’
- both a historical reference to the French Revolution and a hyperbolic statement
- suggest the suffering of the British soldiers could lead to a similar uprising occurring in Britain
- the reference to palace also suggests the monarchy are directly to blame for the suffering
What is the only example of biblical imagery ?
‘Every blackening church appalls’
- church had a lot of power and he directly critiques this
- he deliberately invested the conventional Christian and holy imagery of the a church being white which connotes purity to now resemble evil and impurity
- he does this to show the evil and suffering
