London - William Blake

Question 1

Structure and form

Answer 1

• dramatic monologue: first person narrator speaks passionately and personally about the suffering he sees
  – aBaB rhyme scheme is unbroken and echoes of relentless misery of the city
  – the first two stanzas focus on people he sees and hears, before a shift in stanza 3 to the institutions (church, monarchy and gov) he holds responsible
• The final stanza returns to look at people showing how even newborns are affected
• repetition could imply the cycle of poverty and there was no escape for the lower social classes. Emphasises the prevalence of the horrors the speaker describes.

Question 2

Context

Answer 2

• Blake was disillusioned with authority and industrialisation as people were controlled by landlords and institutions
  – the poor living conditions in London could cause a revolution like the French Revolution
  – Though Blake was religious he was critical of church of England as it was not doing enough to keep the children of London away from dangerous jobs

Question 3

“In every cry of every man, in every infants cry of fear”

Answer 3

• syntactic parallelism ‘of every’ reflexes extent of the conditions in London from the perspective of the speaker
  – just as the phrase is mirrored as all the poor conditions of life
  – nouns ‘man ‘ and ‘infant’ or juxtaposed to highlight how this Impax people of all ages

Question 4

“Each charter’d street”

Answer 4

• ‘charter’d’ means marked out and planned, showing how the areas controlled and regimented by higher authorities
  – highlights how the church has the power to help by allows his poor conditions to exist

Question 5

“Youthful Harolt’s curse, blasts the new born infant’s tears”

Answer 5

• adjective ‘youthful’ describing the ‘harlot’ is emotive as it shows how even the young have to sacrifice themselves which shows how poor the living conditions are
• noun ‘curse’ connotes how the destruction will continue and there is no hope
• verb ‘blasts’ is harsh and contrast with the image of ‘newborn infant’
• this suggests that the poor conditions are creating a negative world that new lives are entering

Question 6

“marks of weakness, marks of woe”

Answer 6

• repetition of ‘marks of’ shows the extent of the negative sites
  – noun ‘Mark’ has connotations of permanence and scarring suggesting that there is no hope for change
• ‘weakness’ ‘woe’ semantic field of sadness

Question 7

“Soldier’s sigh”

Answer 7

• sibilance reflects the S sound – sadness in tone
• noun ‘soldier’ connotes strength powers and sacrifice but here enthusiasm has left
• ‘sigh’ suggest very little hope even from the brave and strong