London and The Émigrée Flashcards
(31 cards)
Comparison 1
Both poets explore the power of place.
Comparison 2
Both poems explore how human power is destructive.
Comparison 3
Both poems explore how place can impact your perception.
London 1
However, in London, Blake demonises the city in order to expose the problems of the city.
The Émigrée 1
In contrast, in The Emigree, the speaker romanticises her country, focusing on the memories she has of it.
London 2
In London, the abuse of power by institutions (such as the church, government, and monarchy) is explored, as well as the societal problems that are caused by this.
The Émigrée 2
Contrastingly, in The Emigree, the speaker recalls the damage conflict has done to her home and the effects of tyrannical rule.
London 3
In London, Blake feels that the lower-class people believe they are unable to break the cycle of oppression and the poem ends on a tone of hopelessness.
The Émigrée 3
However, in The Emigree, her sense of identity remains with her home, regardless of her position there, the poem is ends on a tone of hope which has been maintained throughout the poem.
The Émigrée 1 - Quotes
“my memory of it is sunlight-clear”
“bright filled paperweight”
“my city takes me dancing”
The Émigrée 2 - Quotes
“sick with tyrants”
“branded by an impression of sunlight”
“i have no passport”
The Émigrée 3 - Quotes
“I comb its hair and love its shining eyes”
“my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight”
London 1 - Quotes
“youthful harlots curse”
“blasts the new-born infant’s tear”
“in every cry of every man”
London 2 - Quotes
“every blackening church appals”
“runs in blood down palace walls”
“mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe.”
London 3 - Quotes
“mind forge manacles I hear”
“marriage hearse”
“my memory of it is sunlight-clear”
- immediately associates happiness with place
- symbolise hope, optimism
- jxt “November”
- late autumn, cn cold/darkness
- acknowledges that her city going through difficult time
- November = month, will pass, shows optimism that conflict will too pass
- alt. little sunlight in Nov, trying to block out neg. details?
“bright filled paperweight”
-metaphor
“paperweight” cn permanence + stability, holds weightless/fragile things together
-memories fixed in place, will never leave her
-refuses to let go of memories
-perhaps believes only thing keeping country together
-glass fragile - memories precious to her
“my city takes me dancing”
“my” - personal pronoun, takes personal comfort in reflecting on her home city
“dancing” - element of magic/freedom (unlike other poem) in the city which emphasises her romanticised view
“sick with tyrants”
- personification
- abuse of power as an illness, like London
- city vulnerable/innocent
- potential for cure? illness temp?
- semantic field of warfare demonstrates war torn reality + tyranny in home country
“branded by an impression of sunlight”
-metaphor
“branded” - eternally marked, cannot escape
-violent verb that carries connotations of permanence and ownership - may reflect permanent tyrannical rule in country
-memory holds the power here – her view is unchangeable as unlike London she chooses to remember only the positive aspects emphasising her engrained view
“sunlight” - cn warmth/comfort that is brought from remembering city
-also blindness - again ignores how corrupt the country is, perhaps in the hope that it’d one day return to normal
“i have no passport”
“passport” - demonstrates pain inflicted by man-made borders as without a passport a person will face restrictions
-passport proof of identity, she feels her city, part of her identity, was stripped away from her as a result of the conflict
“I comb its hair and love its shining eyes”
- jxt semantic field of warfare
- personifies the country as something vulnerable like a child
- ignores current suffering for the more favourable view narratir had as a child as she seem to attempt to protect it
“my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight”
- jxt no shadow without light – symbolism of hope and positivity
- ends on sunlight - circularity
- opinion of homeland will always be positive, no matter what “darkness” there may be
“youthful harlots curse”
-oxymoron, youthful jxt harlot
- in this oxymoron, Blake corrupts the idea of childbirth with sexual exploitation and hate
“youthful”- cn innocence - innocence stripped away by the corruption of soceity, forced to turn to prostitution, desperate for money just to survive
“curse” - plural cn
1- swearing - loss of innocence
2- anger/frustration - inability ti get out of poverty/anger towards the men that exploit her
3- “cursed” to a lifestyle of extreme poverty, further supported by “new born infants tear”
