Poem - London Flashcards
London comes from the anthology called? Which explores?
Songs of Innocence and Experience which explores prostitution, poverty and child labour
The line “ marks of weakness, marks of woe” is not iambic pentameter and has only 7 syllables
Shows weakness of the line
The main image of London is in the exact middle of the poem to emphasise its importance
Mind-forg’d manacles
The verb forged in “mind-forged manacles” suggests that….
The manacles on the people’s minds are not real
Irony of chartered Thames
Attempt to own and control nature
With this quote, images of the people of London’s being enslaved are invoked in the readers mind
Mind-forged manacles
Why did William Blake reject established religion?
He rejected the Chruch because he felt they spent money on themselves rather than helping the poverty-stricken kids of London
The French Revolution happened just before London was written. Blake thinks the English will also revolt.
“Blood down Palace walls”
Why is chartered bad?
Public land had recently been privatised and many had profited from this move
Describe how topic of poem changes, cyclical structure.
Suffering
Reason for suffering
Suffering
London is full of negative words. For example, these 6
“fear” “appals” “blights” “hearse” “plagues” and “woe”
These 3 words are repeated in the poem and create a sense of urgency
“Charter’d” “mark” and “every”
What is the rhyme scheme of the quatrains and why is it so repetitive?
A B A B. Repetitiveness shows relentless suffering in city
This word is repeated to suggest sadness and pathos
“Every”
Intertextual reference of manacles
Rousseau “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”
Mark is repeated but with different meanings
Shows frustration of changing London
What sort of structure is the London written in?
Four quatrains with alternate lines rhyming
Blake thinks it wrong that children are forced to clean churches rather than be fed by the church
the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every blackening church appals
The poem ends with a phrase which suggest future and new life but also death and decay. This suggest that Blake thinks the future will be filled with sorrow
Marriage hearse
Where was William Blake educated?
William Blake had no formal education
What are William Blakes poems like?
All of William Blake’s poems are anti-authoritarian and have strong visual imagery.
These four verbs are forceful and give the poem a violent edge
“Forged”, “appals”, “blasts” and “blights”
