London Flashcards
London key quotes
‘Mind forged manacles’
‘And the hapless soldiers sigh ‘
‘Every blackening church appalls’
‘Runs in blood down palace walls’
‘I wander through each chartered street’
Who wrote London and when
William Blake in 1794
Summary of poem London
Focuses on the abuse of power and how that results in vast inequality. Blake is urging people to break free of the ‘mind forged manacles ‘
Structure and form of London
-The poem is written in a rigid rhythm of iambic tetrameter which could echo the never ending suffering and misery
-Written in a dramatic monologue in first person in a conversational tone makes it feel more like a story
-cyclical structure which shows how the suffering is never ending
-fixed structure which mimics how the upper class are in complete control
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Context of London
-Blake was considered to have radical political views by believing in equality for not only classes but also amongst genders
-he was anti monarchy and wanted a revolution to remove it
-industrial revolution saw massive amount of people move to cities to work in factories with horrible working conditions
Analyse quote : ‘the mind forged manacles’
-Government are imprisoning population in Industrial Revolution cannot see hope of escaping (poverty cycle)
-internal oppression and weakness
Analyse quote ‘every blackening church appalls’
-Blake disagrees with Church of England
- church are not acting to look after the poor it is corrupt
‘Blackening could also infer the smoke from the Industrial Revolution which is polluting London
Analyse quote : ‘and the hapless soldiers sigh’
-soldiers are doing things they don’t want to do exploited
-making them go to war unnecessarily, so unnecessary deaths, royal family are guilty and corrupt
Analyse quote: ‘blights with plagues the marriage hearse’
-oxymoron (love leads to despair)
-carriage used to take coffin to funeral, juxtaposed with marriage which is a ceremony of new beginnings, no happiness their marriages are doomed to unhappiness
