London Flashcards
What are the three big ideas?
Power of humans
Loss and absence
Individual experiences
What is the form?
Dramatic momnologue- first person narrator speaks passionately and personally about the suffering he sees. ABAB rhyme scheme is never broken and seems to echo the relentless city. Regular rhythm could reflect the sound his feet as he trudges around
How is structure used?
The narrator presents images of downtrodden, deprived people.
What do the first 2 stanzas focus on?
They focus on the people that the narrator hear and sees as he walks through the streets of london.
Where does the focus shift to in stanza 3?
Focus shifts to the institutions he hold responsible (the monarachy and the government )
What does the final stanza look at?
Looks at the people, showing how even newborn babies are affected.
How is contrast used?
This is used to show how everything is affected and nothing pure or innocent remains.
How is rhetorical language used?
The narrator uses this to persuade you of his point of view- he uses powerful emotive words and images to reinforce the horror of the situation. Anaphora is used to empahsise the number of people affected, and to show how society needs to change
Context ‘Songs of innocence and of Experience’
Blake wrote and illustrated two volumes of poetry which exploded the state of the human soul. ‘Songs of innocence’ are positive poems which focus on childhood, nature and love where as ‘Songs of experience’ including london- look at how that innnocence is lost, and how society has been corrupted.
How did the industrial revolution impact the poem and Blake?
At the time (eighteenth century), England was developing rapidly. this was called the industrial revolution. This industrialisation led to poverty and poor living conditions. child labour was very common - they worked long hours in very dangerous environments.
What were blakes views at the time?
Blake disliked the monarchy (kings/ queens) his views were inspired y the French revolution, where the monarchy were overthrown by the people of France.
Blake was against London being controlled by powerful people and having no freedom.
who believed in social and racial equality. He questioned church teachings.
He was a romantic poet
How is a sonnet used in this poem?
A sonnet is a 49 line poem , usually about love which is ironic as the monarchy had no love for its people.
When was the poem published?
1794
‘Runs in blood down palace walls’
Metaphor- symbolic to represent the soldiers blood lost only to protect those in power nobody else
Might be a refrence to the french revolution- sounds like he thinks ordinary people suffer while those in the palace are protected behind walls.
Forceful image of the destruction of conflict - could link back to french rev. which was at first a symbol of freedom for the romantics but descended into violence
‘Happless soldiers sigh’
unfortunate the soldier o powerless and contolled by the government- this discontent will becom blood (either his own or through the acts he is forced to carry out)
Happles= suggests that wasr is almost like a game to them
