William Blake's "London"
3. William Blake, "London"
The population of London grew from 575,000 in 1700 to around 1,500,000 in 1830 despite the fact that the death rate in the city surpassed its birth rate. This is because hordes of people relocated to the city from the countryside in the hope of finding wealth and better living conditions. In his poem "London" Blake addresses this notion of the city with the reality that working class people do not thrive in such an eighteenth century metropolis and are in fact trampled under the feet of their superiors.
The title, simply "London", is significant because it pinpoints a very specific and factual place. Blake hints at the realistic as opposed to the idealistic nature of the poem from the very outset and ensures the reader interprets the setting fully, almost as if refusing the city in question any opportunity to deny the poem 's accusations. Continuing with this notion, the poet mentions "the charter 'd Thames" (l.2), again firmly attaching the miserable descriptions of city-life to one of the most well-known features of London - not allowing the city to dodge any truths. The use of the word "charter 'd" to describe the street and the Thames (l.1, l.2) relates to the London 's British Royal Charter which enabled the city to wield its unyielding power. Blake juxtaposes this image with the "Marks of weakness" (l.4) visible on the faces of the city 's inhabitants. The contrast between the power of the city and the powerlessness of the people who live within it is a striking image, and one which can be linked to other poems written within the long eighteenth century. William Wordsworth 's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge", for example, admires the great beauty of the city - "so touching in its majesty" (l.3), however, throughout the course of the poem the inhabitants of London are not mentioned; the city is beautiful when the people within it are invisible. This ties in with "London" because, like Wordsworth, Blake separates the people from
The population of London grew from 575,000 in 1700 to around 1,500,000 in 1830 despite the fact that the death rate in the city surpassed its birth rate. This is because hordes of people relocated to the city from the countryside in the hope of finding wealth and better living conditions. In his poem "London" Blake addresses this notion of the city with the reality that working class people do not thrive in such an eighteenth century metropolis and are in fact trampled under the feet of their superiors.
The title, simply "London", is significant because it pinpoints a very specific and factual place. Blake hints at the realistic as opposed to the idealistic nature of the poem from the very outset and ensures the reader interprets the setting fully, almost as if refusing the city in question any opportunity to deny the poem 's accusations. Continuing with this notion, the poet mentions "the charter 'd Thames" (l.2), again firmly attaching the miserable descriptions of city-life to one of the most well-known features of London - not allowing the city to dodge any truths. The use of the word "charter 'd" to describe the street and the Thames (l.1, l.2) relates to the London 's British Royal Charter which enabled the city to wield its unyielding power. Blake juxtaposes this image with the "Marks of weakness" (l.4) visible on the faces of the city 's inhabitants. The contrast between the power of the city and the powerlessness of the people who live within it is a striking image, and one which can be linked to other poems written within the long eighteenth century. William Wordsworth 's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge", for example, admires the great beauty of the city - "so touching in its majesty" (l.3), however, throughout the course of the poem the inhabitants of London are not mentioned; the city is beautiful when the people within it are invisible. This ties in with "London" because, like Wordsworth, Blake separates the people from
Bibliography: Addison, Joseph. The Spectator, No. 69, Saturday, 19 May 1711, from The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (2012). Blackledge, Paul Blake, William. America a Prophecy. Lambeth: W. Blake, 1793. Blake, William. Europe a Prophecy. Lambeth: W. Blake, 1794. Blake, William. "London". Songs of Experience. London: W. Blake, 1794. Blake, William. Milton a Poem (including the preface "And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time"). London: W. Blake, 1804. Dörrbecker, D. (ed). The Continental Prophecies: America: a Prophecy, Europe: a Prophecy, The Song of Los. London: William Blake Trust/Tate Gallery, 1995. Whitney, Elizabeth