London Flashcards
author
William Blake
themes
power of humans,loss and absence, anger, individual experiences
what’s the poem about
describing a walk around London, everywhere he goes people are affected by misery and despair, misery is relentless and nobody can escape it, people in power seem to be behind the problems
Context
“songs of innocence and of experience”
Blake wrote and illustrated two volumes of poverty which explored the state of the human soul. Songs of experience which is where London is found explores how innocence is lost and how society has been compared
lost synonyms
disorientated, adrift, astray, off-track
people in power synonyms
ruling class, upper class
form
dramatic monologue
ABAB unbroken rhyme scheme and echoes the relentless misery of the city
relentless synonym
persistent, uninterrupted, unremitting, sustained, purposeful
structure
downtrodden, deprived people, first two stanzas focus on people he sees and hears before the focus shifts in stanza three to the institutions he holds responsible, final stanza returns to looking at people and how newborns are affected
deprived synonyms
impoverished, destitute, distressed, penuriou, impecunious
rhetoric
rhetorical language to persuade you of his point of view, powerful emotive words and images to reinforce the horror of the situation, repetition is used to emphasise the number of people affected and to show how society needs to change
use of the senses
depressing sights and sounds of the city, first stanza about what he sees, second what he hears, last two stanzas combine the visual and aural
contrasts
how everything is affected and nothing is pure or innocent remains
feelings and attitudes
anger, hopelessness
quote from start
“I wander through each chartered street, near where the chartered Thames does flow”
