PLACE London Flashcards
Context
Born in 1757 much before dharker, painter,poet and he was influential to the Romantic movement
Romantic poets explored the relationship between nature, humanity and emotion
They were against the ideas of science and Blake can relate this to his negativity against capitalism and the misuse of children/people
London is part of a larger series called songs of experience
Structure
Regular structure of quartets
Rhyme scheme gives it a simple rhythm
Helps immerse the reader within the city and how William sees it, repetitive structure allows to show how it is normal that these people are being exploited
Point 1
Displays London as a miserable area full of depression
1:1
“I wander thro’ each charter’s street”
Wander creates the impression of a lack of meaning and they are aimless in what they do
“Chater’d” reference to capitalisation of the lands and his friend Thomas Paine was an activist and he campaigned against thus stuff used for trade
1:2
“Marks of weakness, marks of woe”
The “marks” are metaphorical scars left on the people due to the rough experioences that the public expierenced from this era of work
Alliteration of W emphasises the real sadness and pain of the average people
Syntactic parallelism
1:3
“In every cry of every man”
Hyperbole. Used to exaggerate how this depression is wide spread though out the country, there is so much distraught ness that even the ideologies of patriarchal ideologies that even men feel dejected
2nd point
Lack of faith
2:1
Repetition of “in every”
Highlights how people do not really have the ability to be free and shows pessimism and how everyone has this mentality and lack of courage
2:2
“The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.”
Shows the awareness of the people as to how they are stuck in their own endless loop of negativity and problems
Personified and figurative as it is “mind-forg’d” so it shows how the struggles are made from their own minds
Blake is romantic
2:3
“Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackening church appals”
Depicts how children were forced to worl and their cry metaphorically blackened the church and this idea of black is symbolic for the absence of life and hope and a prevalence of sadness and depression
3rd point
cynical cycle of life in which they live
3:1
“Hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace walls”
“The soldiers are”hapless” they are metaphorically standing the palace walls which are full of the capitalistic ideologies and how they stain the walls wiht their blood and poverty whic is an endless cycle
3:2
“The youthful Harlot’s curse”
Links to the idea that you are stuck in this cuynical cycle from the start and when you are reborn you are again stuck in this laborious cycle as a child.
Direct criticism whcih Blake does as he does not agree with this exploitation as he shows in many poems
3:3
“Blights with Plagues the Marraige hearse”
Juxtaposition of “marraige hearse” as if to say that by entering the life long parternship of marriage you sign away your life and die, oxymoronic phrase relates to the idea of Romanticism that William shows and talks about
