London Flashcards
Themes (4)
- Power of humans: Ozymandias: power of humans and subject of neglect, too much power, against oppressive rule
- Loss and absence
- Anger: Exposure: political poem about injustice, Storm on the Island: Political poem about conflict in Ireland
- Individual experiences: Checking out me history: presentation of speaker
About
The poem describes a walk through London, which is presented as a pained, oppressive, and impoverished city in which all the speaker can find is misery. It places particular emphasis on the sounds of London, with cries coming from men, women, and children throughout the poem.
Big Ideas (4)
- Power
- Presentation of place
- Presentation of people
- Political
“chartered street, near where the chartered Thames does flow”
Anger, Loss and absence
Repetition of “Chartered” – privately owned or leased – had to pay – nothing is free anymore. Full of commercial establishments, sense of materialism, money is at the heart of everything in London.
“Chartered Thames does flow” – 1. even things that should be natural and free like a river are now privately owned, 2. “does flow” = even though humans are trying to own it, it still flows and breaks their boundaries
“Marks of weakness, marks of woe”
Anger, Power of humans
Repetition of “marks” show widespread misery “in every face I meet”
1. “marks” = physical marks in malnourishment, 2. Depression, sadness in everyone
“Weakness” – displays areas of poverty in London, malnourished from no jobs, no money, no food – cycle
Alliteration in “weakness” and “woe” makes the impact more memorable, conveys the mood of London
“in every ban, the mind-forged manacles I hear”
Anger, Loss and absence, Power of humans
“Ban” – 1. Restriction/prohibited from doing something, 2. A rule/law = with too many laws it becomes oppressive and freedom is removed, connects to “manacles” – Romantic poets fought to remove this and gain freedom
“manacles” = chains, people feel imprisoned
“mind-forged manacles” – 1. “mind” = chains were created by someone’s mind, emotional mental, manmade not physical, people are imprisoning their own minds out of fear
2. Created by the Government who make the bans
3. Chains are created by working conditions in factories caused by the Industrial revolution.
“forged” = 1. Created, 2. Mould or smelt and bend iron – links to the Industrial revolution and factories
“chimney sweeper’s cry”
Anger
“Chimney sweepers” were very young children and was a terrible occurrence but the parents had no other choice, reflects issues e.g. poverty, child labour in society which he disagrees with, “cry”, he knows they are in pain and also reflects misery felt by all
“every blackning church appalls”
Anger, Power of humans
1. Shame on the church as an establishment, does nothing to help people, stain on its name, a disgrace
2. Literal soot on the Church from the chimneys, black colour caused by smoke – Industrial revolution
3. “Church appalls” – church is disgusted by the poverty and injustice but “appalls” also means falls short of expectation as they do nothing. The church preaches love and kindness but in reality, does not do this, only pretends to care
“pall” – shroud – cover thing up, the church turns a blind eye to the suffering. CONTEXT: very powerful institutions with the ability to help people often didn’t - corruption
“hapless soldier’s sigh runs in blood down palace walls”
Anger, Power of humans
The monarchy constantly sent more people off to war for power if they wanted more land or control they sacrificed their own people and soldiers for power – corruption, should be protecting the people and not using them and their lives for nothing more than land
“Soldier’s sigh” – sibilance shows disgust at the monarchy’s responsibility for the murders of the people
“runs in blood down palace walls” – “blood” represents all the soldiers who have died for monarchy’s selfishness, Blake suggests the palace/monarchy have blood on their hands and is attacking them – Romantic poet is against the corrupt control of establishments and injustice
“youthful harlot’s curse”, “new-born infant’s tear”
Anger, Loss and absence
- Prostitution was the no.1 “profession” for women and was a direct result of arranged marriage as men cheated on their arranged wives, no love for them
- “Plague” = illness was born on the wind, many died from disease
- “new-born infant’s tear” – the prostitute would have a baby born with disease and STDs
- “marriage hearse” – 1. marriage became a hearse, carries dead bodies, marriage is lifeless, 2. A man who gets an STD may die from it from a lack of medical awareness, 3. Oxymoron, marriage = new beginnings, “hearse” = death, end of life
Structure (6)
- First person recount
- Quatrain: 4-line stanzas using abab rhyme scheme, alternate rhyming lines show the degradation of life in the city
- Chronological order and cyclical in structure: every day is the same: repetitive terrible cycle of misery, poverty and death
- Stanza 1: repetition of “marks” emphasises feelings of bleakness and suffering from all
- Stanza 2: anaphora structure used in first 3 lines combined with repetition of “cry” used to build further examples of suffering and despair
- Ballad form: but descriptive, not story-telling. This is how Blake upset convention – he does. Not conform to society’s expectations just like his poem.
Context (6)
- Blake was a Romantic poet and his beliefs were in opposition to the changes happening in Britain
- He opposed the Industrial Revolution and believed in the rights and freedom of individual people
- All he sees is misery and despair when walking through London
- He was concerned about the treatment of the lower class, especially children, he felt they were robbed of their childhood and believed child labour was wrong
- During this time disease and malnutrition death rates were high
- People in the power/establishments seem to be the cause of the problem but they do nothing to help those in need
