London Flashcards
by William Blake
1
Q
What are the key ideas
A
-
2
Q
Explain two pieces of context
A
- London is part of Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ which explored ideas such as social oppression, the loss and destruction of innocence and death
- Blake was a romantic poet who wrote about nature and the individual
- It was written during the Industrial Revolution but Blake critiqued this along with the institution, organised religion and authority
3
Q
What is the poets message
A
- Industrialisation was the beginning of the worlds downfall as it had made us even more negligent of the suffering of others
4
Q
What are the structural features
A
- Strict rhyme scheme = reflects ideas of entrapment and regimentation
- Iambic tetrameter = song like rhythm to capture and turn our attention to the sounds of suffering in London
- Acrostic in stanza 3 = highlights poems focus on sounds
- Cyclical structure = perpetual cycle of suffering
5
Q
I wander through every chartered street … even the chartered Thames does flow
A
- repetition
6
Q
Mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe
A
- antanaclasis (repetition of word, but different meaning)
- alliteration
- repetition
7
Q
In every cry of every man
In every newborn infants tear
In every voice, in every ban
A
- anaphora
8
Q
Mind-forged manacles
A
- alliteration
9
Q
How the chimney sweepers cry
A
- symbolism
10
Q
Youthful harlots curse
A
- oxymoron
11
Q
Blast the newborn infants tear
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse
A
- oxymoron
- plosive
12
Q
Every blackning church appalls
A
13
Q
But most through the midnight streets I hear
A
- dramatic climax
