London

Question 1

London Context (William Blake)

Answer 1

• Criticism of society : Industrial revolution, British wealth (exporting goods,huge divide from rich and poor), Political protests against authorities e.g Church
• Angry / bitter tone, Blake speaks for a marginalised society

Question 2

London MUST mention

Answer 2

• The poem is an ironic look at misery in the greatest city in the world
• Blake’s views are revolutionary for the time, challenging the idea that man is worth more than slavery
• Blake challenges the establishment in their ‘palaces ‘and ‘churches’ which are marked by the blood and blackening of good people

Question 3

London Structure

Answer 3

• Written in four stanzas with an regular alternate scheme. This may reflect the regular walking pace of the narrator as he walks around London. The last line in each stanza tends to deliver a powerful statement which sums up the rest of the stanza.
• Stanza I focusses on misery, Stanza 2 on peoples refusal to stand tall, Stanza 3 about the way people are sacrificed for the rich and powerful, Stanza 4 how all this poverty is corrupting everything good about family and life.