para 3

Question 1

how is the hypocrisy of the power structure in society expressed?

Answer 1

-in the imagery depicting the bleak physical environment of London

Question 2

how is the soldier similar to chimney sweeper?

where does his oppression stem from?

Answer 2

-like the chimney sweeper the soldier is an oppressed figure, however his oppression stems from the ‘palace’ which metonymically represents the authority of the state

Question 3

what does Blake intend in his ABAB rhyme scheme?

example?

Answer 3

• a sardonic conflict is intended in his ABAB rhyme scheme of his ballad quatrains and the grotesque experience which they describe
• for example the rhyming couplet of ‘cry’ and ‘sigh’ link the two socially oppressed figures together in their misery

Question 4

why does the speaker deliberately use sibilance?

Answer 4

-speaker deliberately uses sibilance in ‘hapless soldiers sigh’ to emphasise the solders exasperation with the ‘s’ sound creating a similar sound to someone exhaling

Question 5

what is the sinister imagery of ‘runs in blood down palace walls’ represent?

Answer 5

• metaphorical representation of the oppression and suppression of the Lowrys classes
• and signifies the bloodshed of fallen soldiers to protect the palace, therefore Blake is conveying his immense anger at the injustice of the lower classes through this imagery

Question 6

what references are alluded to the French Revolution?

Answer 6

-‘blackening church’ and ‘running of blood down palace walls’ is a clear allusion to the horrors of French revolution

Question 7

what does the reference to ‘youthful harlots curse’ relate to?

Answer 7

• the adolescent girls forced into prostitution, thus physically, emotionally and morally imprisoned by the system
• ‘curse’ is a metaphor concerning the sexual exploitation of women by the ruling elite

Question 8

alliteration of ‘blasts’ and ‘blights’ emphasis what?

Answer 8

-emphasises blakes rising anger at the injustice of innocent bodies entrapped, exploited and infected by the ‘plagues’ of venereal disease or metaphorically the cycle of misery that corrupts them

Question 9

what does the closing crescendo of powerful oxymoron suggest?

Answer 9

-closing crescendo of powerful oxymoron ‘marriage hearse’ suggests the cycle of corruption is inescapable, and even ‘marriage’ a celebration of love and new life, is plagued with the blight of venereal disease brought by new husbands to their wives, resulting in their death, thus bringing the ‘hearse’