Preview

An Analysis of the Poem, London

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
419 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
An Analysis of the Poem, London
In this poem, Blake is trying to dispel the myth of grandeur and glory associated with London and to show the 'real' people of London and how they felt. London was seen and portrayed as a powerful and wonderful city where the wealthy lived and socialised. However, Blake knew that London was really a dirty, depressing and poverty-stricken city filled with slums and the homeless and chronically sick. To reveal the truth, Blake combines description of people and places with the thoughts and emotions of the people. For example, the second stanza says:<br><br><center><i>"In every cry of every Man,<br>In every Infants cry of fear,<br>In every voice: in every ban,<br>The mind forg'd manacles I hear"</i></center><br><br>Blake combines the descriptions of the crying baby and man with the observation that the people oppress their hopes and dreams, figuratively 'chaining up their minds' because they know that they will never be able to achieve their dreams. Another Example is in the third stanza when Blake describes the crying chimney-sweep and then the "blackning church", but is really saying that the church does not want to dirty its hands by helping the soot-covered [black] chimney sweep. Therefore, a "blackning church" is one that helps the common, dirty people, and Blake says that "every blackning church appalls", showing that the aristocracy and those in positions of power did not want the church that they supported associating with the common people.<br><br>Throughout the poem, Blake uses fairly simple language, punctuated with the occasional obscure word, but generally the more common words, probably to appeal to the common people who he was supporting through this poem.<br><br>In writing this poem, Blake is trying to make the reader understand the truth about London and understand about the 'real' people, and he is also encouraging the church, and the aristocracy to help the common people and to support them instead of pushing them away and disregarding
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analysis Of The Poem Hathaway
    • 130 Words
    • 1 Page

    Analysis Of The Poem Hathaway

    The part that surprises me about the poem was how fast things changed. One moment I think about a lovely couple in young love and them it just changes at the end with twist of “growling…Hell’s Angels.” One moment I thought it was going to be a happy poem about this couple and then a train with a “black window” and head lights on in the day. I start think that something was different about this poem once the author introduced the train.…

    • 130 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Engl. 102 Poetry Essay
    • 1007 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Engl. 102 Poetry Essay

    1. Does the horse think, or is the writer using this to postpone his thoughts…

    • 1007 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Castle Poem Analysis
    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Castle Poem Analysis

    For me personally a text that has had a profound effect upon my understanding of the global village is the film The Castle. The Castle’s explores highly relevant issues like the rights of individuals in the globalised world and the egalitarian nature of Australian society. Both of these issues are discussed in the scene at the High Court. During this scene…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poetry: Poem Analysis
    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Poetry: Poem Analysis

    The works we studied within Creative Writing were all helpful in creating my own works to submit to the class. Throughout all of the reading, many of the works inspired me in different ways, whether it was short story plot ideas or word usage in the poems. While crafting my work for the final portfolio, I reviewed many of the poems from our poetry packet in an effort to find inspiration and to create new interesting images. I took the most inspiration for my formal poem, which I found most difficult to write. One of the poems that was most useful to me was Jilly Dybka’s “Memphis, 1976.” Dybka’s poem follows the sestina form; I also wrote my last poem in this form, so it helped to follow the form by looking at her poem as an example. Dybka’s…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poem Analysis Essay
    • 834 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Poem Analysis Essay

    The poem is about daylight saving time. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is an age-old practice where people would advance time by one hour to extend daylight time into the night. In effect, they would sacrifice sunrise time, also by one hour. People in the regions affected would adjust their clocks around the start of spring. They would change them back to normal time when summer ends. This practice has its root in early societies before the invention of the modern clock. Because most societies were agrarian at the time, and farm work was majorly dependent on daylight, people would plan their day and adjust their time according the length of daylight. Where daylight extended into the night, people would adjust their clocks to accommodate the new timeline, which, in this case, will also continue well into the night.…

    • 834 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poetry Analysis
    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Poetry Analysis

    Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poem Analysis
    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Poem Analysis

    The text that I will be analyzing is a poem by Lorna Crozier called The Child Who Walks Backwards. Throughout my analysis I will look into parental abuse, underlying meanings in the lines in the poetry, as well as connections I can make personally to the book. I think it is also important that I bring forth essential messages in the words and statements of the poem. The main theme I will choose to focus on is that abuse does not only happen at school or back alleys, but that it happens in homes as well.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poetry Analysis

    • 637 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Poetry Analysis

    The one thing that family could respond to all negative attitudes toward them was bitterness and even this was prohibited.…

    • 637 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Poetry Analysis
    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Poetry Analysis

    There are many literary terms that constitute a poem, such as symbolism, rhyme, rhythm, tone and so on. The most important literary term that makes up a poem is the speaker. The speaker sets the tone of the poem and has the ability to maintain the attention of readers. The most important role of the speaker is to be “real”, in the sense that the reader feels that they are listening to someone say something as opposed to reading words off of a paper. The speaker also allows the poet to make his or her point in a clearer manner. “Suicide Note” by Janice Mirikitani is an example of the importance of a speaker in poetry. The speaker of this poem is an Asian student that has reached her breaking point because of the pressure that she has felt from her parents and she has committed suicide. The speaker of this poem is especially important and a great example of the importance of the speaker in poetry.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    poetry analysis
    • 2022 Words
    • 9 Pages

    poetry analysis

    In the short poem, “Wild Geese”, Mary Oliver speaks to the reader through the poem informing the reader that being good doesn’t matter. That we all make mistakes in life and we all have regret. Olihat what matters is that we don’t spend all our tiur imagination and free us from our anguish anorld has to offer. Oliver compares human emotions to nature itself and creates…

    • 2022 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Innocence In William Blake's London
    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Innocence In William Blake's London

    Thus William Blake gives a very tragic and moving view of London and its inhabitancies.The bleakness and the dreary world of London is portrayed here. Indeed (The concept of universal human suffering permeates through Blake's dolorous poem "London," which depicts a city of causalities fallen to their own psychological and ideological demoralization,)which depicts a city of the picture of the exploitation and vulnerability of innocence . Innocence is devastated again and again. It is as if that England has stagnated morally and this moral degradation clearly expresses itself in the form of physically impaired children. Though the poem is set in the London of Blake's time, his use of symbolic characters throughout the piece and anaphoric use…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    holy thursday poetry explication
    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages

    holy thursday poetry explication

    To begin, in, the first stanza, Blake begins his poem with, “Is this a holy thing to see, In a rich and fruitful land, Babes reduced to misery, Fed with cold and ururous hand?” Blake uses the lines, “Is this a holy thing to see” and “Babes reduced to misery” that indicates the homeless kids that attend these religious ceremonies are socially expected to appear perfect and happy even though emotionally, they are not satisfied. He introduces the country as a “rich and fruitful land” which suggests that country is immersed in wealth, but yet, there are many orphans living in poverty. He continues to state they are, “Fed with cold usurious hand” which implies the institution is only motivated by self-interest, hinted by the minimal care the children receive and the lack of love. Additionally, the lack of heat is literal and also symbolic of the warmth of love they will never feel.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare the Ways in Which William Wordsworth Presents London in ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ with William Blake's View of London in His Poem ‘London’
    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Compare the Ways in Which William Wordsworth Presents London in ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ with William Blake's View of London in His Poem ‘London’

    The two poets discovered London and valued it in assorted ways. William Wordsworth was a tourist who went through London to get to France. He saw London’s view from the top of Westminster Bridge; this is why he named the poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’. Whereas William Blake experienced and saw London’s ‘secrets’ through the streets of London, and his poem was called ‘London’. Wordsworth observes nature and the beauty lying over London; however Blake observes all the negatives occurring in London deep inside. Blake might of thought negatively about London because at that time London was in the industrial revolution. The words he uses in his poem such as, ‘In every cry of every Man, In every infants cry of fear’ shows us the woe and sorrow people become because of helplessness while living in London, In contrast to this Wordsworth visualised London early in the morning over the top of Westminster Bridge, only seeing the beauty London’s wearing over itself, the words he uses to describe the things he saw is ‘ The beauty of the morning: silent, bare, ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie’.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analysis of London by William Blake
    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis of London by William Blake

    Written in four stanzas, London by William Blake uses an ‘A, B, A, B' rhythmic pattern. More in a lyrical form, the poem is basically about someone where he wanders in London and describes his thoughts and observations. He sees poverty, misery, and despair on people's face and notices how London is a hideous and corrupted place with injustice in every corner. The poem starts with a sinister and gloomy atmosphere which quickly gives an idea to the reader what the author thinks of London. I noticed the author uses repetition of words such as "every". I assume it is to emphasise the fact that this suffering is not only affecting a group of people but everybody. At the third stanza, the "chimney-sweeper's cry" symbolizes that people are forced to repair what the society had done wrong. Blake is also blaming the church by describing as "blackening" to represent its corruption. Then, the "hapless soldier's sigh" evokes the idea that the soldiers don't have a choice but to serve their country and "Runs in blood down palace-walls." refers to their dreams and lives that will be stolen and shattered by the society. Clearly, the author shows his repugnance and hatred towards London by using dark imageries and evil-evoking words. At the last stanza, "the youthful harlot's curse" means that the new-born will be born in their turn in poverty, despair, diseases will be contracted, etc. and the cycle of corruption is going to start all over again. By putting together "marriage" and "hearse", I think the author meant that everything, even the happiest event will eventually lead to death. All in all, the poem shows that life is hard and difficult, that there is misery everywhere in London and those who are too much concerned about money should feel guilty from those that suffer around…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    William Blake's London: Industrialization in the 18th Century
    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    William Blake's London: Industrialization in the 18th Century

    London deals with the dreadful scene in the industrialized London in the 18th century. In the first stanza, Blake gives an overview of the city and successfully creates the gloomy, dark and suffocating atmosphere. Blake applies varied rhetorical devices in the poem, of which the most striking and significant is repetition. For example, the word “chartered” is reiterated in line 1 and line 2 to emphasize the fact that the streets and river are owned by the wealthy upper class. And the word “mark” occurs in “mark in every face I meet”(line 3) and “mark of weakness, mark of woe”(line 4). The transition of the word “mark” from verb to noun manifests the change of observation to noticeable signs. Every person Blake meets in London is desperate and feeble. What a horrible scene it is!…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics