London: Songs Of Experience

Question 1

What is the context for this poem

Answer 1

-london unambiguously + indubitably corrupt
-Blake explores theme authoritarian abuses of power + walking around london describing suffering + oppression he observes
-london against backdrop of Ind rev, fr rev, poverty, social divisions, death, prostitution + child labour

Question 2

Why does the meter constantly change in this poem

Answer 2

-to reflect monotony of machinery used during Ind rev + also Blake’s feeling nothing will change for the better
-society stuck in interminable perpetual circle of oppression, exploitation + misery

Question 3

What is the effect of the end stopped lines at the end of each stanza

Answer 3

-slows down pace — makes reader question + empathise
-Blake wants us to reflect
-adds to somber tone + depressing nature of poem as reader pauses to reflect on misery + despair inflicted upon society due to the neglect from institutions

Question 4

What is the rhythm/metre of stanza 1

Answer 4

-iambic tetrameter is used in first 3 lines
-metre changes in last line to trochaic (trochee tum, ti)
-stresses the misery + ownership to emph sense of cruelty, suffering + enslavery

Question 5

What does the anaphora of ‘charter’d’ suggest

Answer 5

-everything being wonder + profited from + being exploited
-not just exploitation of people but also land which was owned by rich which gave no sense of hope
-also sense of ownership — enslaving the people + the land

Question 6

What does the anaphora of ‘marks’ suggest

Answer 6

-marks of misery, pain + dirt from Ind rev on their faces
-society weak compared to power of institutions
-also the masses of lower classes + mass drudgery — shared + collective suffering ‘marks’ on everyone
-this heightens sense of loss of individuality + emph the magnitude of this

Question 7

What is the rhythm/metre of stanza 2

Answer 7

-iambic rhythm
-dreary + interminable like poverty

Question 8

What does the anaphora of ‘in every’ suggest

Answer 8

-emph magnitude if suffering — everyone except institutions suffer
-heightens his hatred of those in power
-Blake sympathised with revolutionaries in fr rev + their fight for democracy
-Blake wanted a change in the social order of society — power to the people

Question 9

What does the anaphora followed by the visual + auditory imagery in ‘every infants cry of fear’

Answer 9

-gives reader mental picture of crowded + noisy city consumed by people suffering in pain
-extreme extent of suffering — even the most pure suffer
-infants should embody innocence + fragility but innocence is tainted by fear, poverty, the Ind rev + society’s corruption
-‘infants’ + ‘fear’ contrast as they shouldn’t know fear at this young age but sadly do
-society needs to change