ENGLIT POETRY london Flashcards
1
Q
What is the poem about?
A
- narrator is describing a walk around the city of London
- he sees that everywhere he goes, the people he meets are affected by misery and despair
- misery seems relentless, no one can escape it, not even the young and innocent
- people in power seem to be behind the problems and choose to do nothing to help the people who are in need
2
Q
What is the context of the poem?
A
- Blake illustrated two volumes of poetry which explored the state of the human soul
- he believed in social and racial equality and questioned church’s teachings
- ‘Songs of Innocence’ are positive poems which focus on childhood, nature and love
- ‘Songs of Experience’ (the collection that London is in) look at how that innocence is lost and how society becomes corrupted, this contrast is Blake’s method of social protest, published in 1794
- these poems were Blake’s way of portraying the harsh life under King George III in the late 17th and early 18th centuries
3
Q
What is the form of the poem?
A
- it’s a dramatic monologue, the first-person narrator speaks passionately and personally about the suffering that he sees, he acts as intelligent, analytical and enormously compassionate observer
- the ABAB rhyme scheme is unbroken and seems to echo the relentless misery of the city, the regular tetrameters give a rhythm which could reflect the sound of his feet as he trudges around, could also be ballad-like which is ironic as the poem itself is hollow
- made up of four line stanzas called quatrains
4
Q
How does the poem use rhetoric language?
A
- uses rhetoric language to persuade you to his point of view, uses powerful words and images to reinforce the horror of the situation
- repetition is used to show the number of people affected and how society needs to change
5
Q
How does the poem use the senses?
A
- poem includes the depressing sights and sounds of the city
- first stanza describes what he sees, the second describes what he hears
- last 2 stanzas combine the visual and aural
6
Q
How does the poem use contrast?
A
shows how everything is affected and how nothing pure or innocent remains
7
Q
What is significant about “I wander thro’”?
A
- first person narrator personalises the poem and makes it seem more real
- “wander” sounds purposeless, could reflect how he feels powerless to change what’s happening, could be preparing reader for the harrowing comments he’s going to make after
- the fact he’s the only thing moving in the poem suggests he’s the only one who’s willing to make progress and move forward
8
Q
What is significant about “each charter’d street”?
A
- “each” suggests that the entire city is affected and not just one area
- “charter’d”, Blake’s friend Thomas Paine was an open critic on Royal Charters and how they used trade as a form of class oppression, so the streets are not free, they are controlled by corporate entities which to an extent means the people are controlled by the corporate entities
- “charter’d” could also mean ‘freighted’ and could refer to the business of the streets and river or the trade that’s being carried on them
9
Q
What is significant about “charter’d Thames”?
A
- the fact that something natural like a river is under government and corporate control shows that the extent of class oppression knows no bounds
- the Thames was frequently idolised and romanticised by many poets of Blake’s era, however it was incredibly dirty and by criticising the Thames, Blake rejects these romantic interpretations
10
Q
What is significant about “And mark in every face I meet”?
A
- “mark” means notice but suggests that everyone he meets is marked by experience
- “mark” appears as a verb here, but appears as a noun in the next line, a technique known as antanaclasis
11
Q
What is significant about “Marks of weakness, marks of woe”?
A
- repetition emphasises bleakness, affects everyone and there is no escape from it
- this line has 7 beats compared to 8 beats in all other lines, this broken line suggests the people themselves are the most broken from their oppression
- “marks” are metaphorical scars that are result of Londoners being oppressed, could be physical scars as poverty stricken people would have had a very poor and monotonous diet
- Blake uses alliteration to link the despair “weakness” to the futility “woe” to emphasise how damaged London’s population is, creates as semantic field of suffering
12
Q
What is significant about “In every cry of every Man,/In every Infant’s cry of fear,/In every voice, in every ban”?
A
- describes many different sounds, makes it sound like a hellish experience
- powerful repetition of “every” and “cry” builds up the sense that Blake’s London is a torturous and agonising place in which to live
- creates image that people of all ages suffer in the city, the pain and suffering is constant from birth to death
- “in every cry of every man” would have come as a shock to an 18th century reader as it heavily contrasts with the view of the patriarchal society in which men can’t be shown to have emotions
13
Q
What is significant about “The mind-forg’d manacles I hear”?
A
- people are trapped in every way, even by their own thoughts and attitudes, could also suggest that they are also partly to blame by choosing not to do anything
- “manacles” are chains, suggests that the people of London are slaves that are chained up mentally
- “mind-forg’d” is a compressed compound, “mind” is the noun modifier for “forg’d”
- long vowels make the lie more difficult to say, which reflects the restrictions that the people suffer from
- while the people are restricted as a result of religious, social, economic and political forms of control they’re also perpetuated by their own limitations
14
Q
What is significant about “How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry”?
A
- chimney sweeper was the job of children, so this is an emotive image of child labour
- he moves from introspective musings to realism and real people’s situations, unlike academics, Blake always returns to real experiences
- links to next line where their cries “blacken” the church who are supposed to care for the weak and vulnerable, the church is blackened by its complicity when it comes to exploiting child workers
- each of the characters he describes starts with a capital letter, so they represent a section of society
15
Q
What is significant about “Every black’ning Church appals”?
A
- suggests church is tarnished by its failure to look after people or that it’s corrupt
- also provides a visual horrid image of the Industrial Revolution
