London - William Blake

Question 1

context London:

Answer 1

William Blake
romantic poet
rejected church/government
believed in the innocence of childhood
believed in the perpetual confinement of the people in london by the establishment

Question 2

structure London

Answer 2

iambic pentameter
ABAB rhyme scheme
4 quatrains
1st person
repetition of words - constraint

Question 3

‘i wander

Answer 3

thro each charter’d street’ juxtaposition of wandered and chartered. aimless. repetition of ‘charter’d’

Question 4

‘marks of weakness,

Answer 4

marks of woe’ - alliteration, repetition. melancholic tone.

Question 5

repetition of ‘in every’ in stanza 2

Answer 5

anaphora creates monotonous rhythm

Question 6

‘in every,

Answer 6

infants cry of fear’ - no hope even in the youngest generation. fear for the future - context innocence of childhood.

Question 7

‘mind-forged

Answer 7

manacles i hear’ - oppressed by the industrialisation rather than physically. connotations of prisoners.

Question 8

‘black’ning church appals and

Answer 8

the hapless soldiers sigh’ - metaphorical and literal meaning of black. adjective ‘hapless’ - weakness. sibilance evokes the ‘sigh’

Question 9

‘blasts the

Answer 9

new born infants tear’ - relating to the prostitution. onomatopoeic verb presents violence

Question 10

‘blights with

Answer 10

plagues the marriage hearse’ - juxtaposition of marriage and hearse - marriage as death - against the church. plosive ‘p’ and ‘b’