London - memorable ballad and protest poem Flashcards
London - form
Ballad with an ABAB rhyme scheme
Memorable protest poem
ABAB - cycle of oppression between rich and poor/powerful and weak.
Iambic tetrameter - tightly ordered and controlled - da dum da dum = sense of relentless oppression. except for words of suffering e.g. Marks of weakness Marks of Woe.
Repeated, endless suffering; and highly controlled - like the London he is critiqueing.
Structure
Uniform stanzas = control
Circular structure - first, second and final stanzas full of suffering of people
e.g. final words:
‘marks of woe’
‘mind forged manacles’
‘marriage hearse.
3rd stanza - causes of suffering ‘ black’ning church’ ‘palace walls’
then returns to suffering - of ‘infants’ and women in final stanza Suffering is never ending…..
I wander through each chartered street
Near where the chartered Thames does flow
‘Wander’ - I wander - direcgtly seen - points are credible; cloes to people unlike distant institutions. Homophone of wonder
‘I wander’ and ‘flow’ - sense of freedom
juxtaposed with control of ‘charter’
‘chartered’ - control/ownership even extending to the ‘chartered’ Thames.
In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban
Anaphora - repetition of In every - brings out scale of control and oppressions
Auditory language - sounds of suffering
(on top of ‘marks’ and mind’ = suffering is everywhere on body)
‘Every’ repeated 7 times in poem - repititive cycles of suffereing
Mind forged manacles
Could make at least 3 interpretations here:
- contraints are metaphorical not real i.e. in the minds - can break out
- internalised the suffering and constraints
- manacles - language of slavery
‘black’ning church ‘
Critique of religion - not protesting child labour of chimney sweeps
Black - sin, death OR pollution/soot of industrial revolution
Runs in blood down palace walls
Criticism of monarch and use of armies
Overtones of french revolution = monarchy needs to change
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse
beginning and end of life is affected
marriage = should be hopeful but doomed.
plagues are literal - STDs form sex with ‘harlots’ = comment on prostitution associated with cities/urbanisation
Opening
I wander through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow
Anaphora
‘In every’
Or
In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
Religious critique
Every black’ning church appals
Royal critique
Runs in blood down palace walls
Nature of constraints
mind-forged manacles
Ending
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse
