London Emotive Diction

In ‘London’ Blake presents the theme of power through a reportage. The narrator wanders through a ‘chartered street’ and by ‘the chartered Thames’. This shows that in the narrator’s eyes the streets are owned and even an aspect of nature such as the River Thames is in ownership of someone. These owners that Blake refers to is the state who are believed to have acquired so much power that they can own natural landmarks. Due to this power, the people in ‘London’ wear metaphorical ‘manacles’ that are ‘mind-forged’ which shows they have trapped themselves due to the pain and suffering the higher class has caused them. Also, the repetition

“Without contraries, there is no progression.” These words of William Blake encompass his philosophy as a writer. In his work Songs of Experience, William Blake depicts human nature as fallen. Specifically, in “London” he explores the dangerous conditions of England at a time when industrialization, prostitution, poverty and child labor were prevalent. Over the course of “London,” Blake’s diction evolves from ambiguous to symbolic, ultimately illuminating the theme that the mindset of man is what oppresses him, not the social institutions in place, and in order to free himself man must break his bond with death.

William Blake was a renowned poet whose works continue to be recognized long after his death. Blake was more than a poet he was also a painter and printmaker. Often his engraving art would act as the accompanying image to his poetry. Throughout his lifetime the British poet wrote several poems. The vast majority of Blake’s work was centered on strong religious themes or human existence itself. However in the works Sick Rose and London neither of these common themes is present. Though the two poems are different in content they both share an

Repetition at the end of each stanza is effectively used to reinforce the message to fight back against death. The son implores his father to hang on any way he can and begs him to use joy or tears or anger to remain in this life. Other men, be they wise or frivolous, serious or

The topic of death is either suppressed or masked in both poems. Both poems are very strong and powerful pieces, which allows readers to connect to the issues being told. Throughout “London”, Blake not only implies the difficult times that London went through during the Industrial revolution, but also how many died during this

In William Blake’s sixteen-line poem titled “London,” the speaker appears to draw from his personal observations to describe the people who live in the city of London. He describes the people at the bottom of the society such as the chimney-sweeper’s and the harlots. The people with some authority that belong to a higher class, such as

When the subject of death is addressed by poets Larkin and Abse they imply that death is a certain and predetermined demise to our lives. However through analysing there style of poetic writing, readers can appreciate their different attitudes towards death. Larkin appears accepting of death, acknowledging fate in a realistic way. Abse however is emotionally impacted and overall unaccepting of the part it plays in our lives.

Blake’s “London” was at a similar disadvantaged. As part of his collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the poem was among works that could be mistakenly seen as merely nursery rhymes, and as such did not demand to be taken seriously. Comparing these texts demonstrates the importance of writing for the society in which one lives, rather than simply writing to

Blake appears convinced in his poem London that all in the title city are affected negatively, controlled by industrialisation. Writing of the Thames being filled with waste makes the audience realise that Blake’s city was grim with the stench of industrialised homes and factories. He writes that he, as he walks along the forlorn river, “mark[s] in every face [he] meets, Marks of weakness; marks of woe”, faces of those lost to the Hell of the city, the disdain of living in a town controlled by industry and Christianity. Shackled by “mind forg’d manacles”, London is apparently a society void of intellectual and physical

In "London", William Blake brings to light a city overrun by poverty and hardship. Blake discards the common, glorifying view of London and replaces it with his idea of truth. London is nothing more but a city strapped by harsh economic times where Royalty and other venues of power have allowed morality and goodness to deteriorate so that suffering and poverty are all that exist. It is with the use of three distinct metaphors; "mind-forg'd manacles", "blackning Church", and "Marriage hearse", that Blake conveys the idea of a city that suffers from physical and psychological imprisonment, social oppression, and an unraveling moral society.

The repetition presents the reader with a sense of both order and chaos at once, which in turn illustrates the subject’s mental state.

In the late 16th and early 17th century, London was ravaged by the Black Death, causing many people to ruminate on death and their mortality. Shakespeare was arguably affected also, indeed “death as a concept is a reoccurring theme within Shakespeare’s work; prevalent through sonnets, tragedies and medieval morality plays through the character of Death” (Courtney, 1995). Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 12”explores the physicality of death, by describing the physicality and impermanence of the natural world. In the first eight lines this is achieved in a traditional blazon format, perhaps to emphasise the physicality of earthly life. The speaker ruminates on the temporality of life through the image of death and decay and concludes that the only way in which to ensure ‘immortality’ is through procreation and continuation of the family line, so that he may not be forgotten after death.

Blake uses traditional symbols of angels and devils, animal imagery, and especially images of fire and flame to: 1) set up a dual world, a confrontation of opposites or "contraries" which illustrate how the rules of Reason and Religion repress and pervert the basic creative energy of humanity, 2) argues for apocalyptic transformation of the self "through the radical regeneration of each person's own power to imagine" (Johnson/Grant, xxiv), and 3) reconstructs Man in a new image, a fully realized Man who is both rational and imaginative, partaking of his divinity through creativity. The form of the poem consists of "The Argument," expositions on his concepts of the "contraries" and of "expanded perception" which are both interspersed with "Memorable Fancies" that explicate and enlarge on his expositions, and concludes with "A Song of Liberty," a prophecy of a future heaven on earth.

the theme of death. The speaker of the poems talks about the loss of a

William Blake is one of England’s most famous literary figures. He is remembered and admired for his skill as a painter, engraver, and poet. He was born on Nov. 28, 1757 to a poor Hosier’s family living in or around London. Being of a poor family, Blake received little in the way of comfort or education while growing up. Amazingly, he did not attend school for very long and dropped out shortly after learning to read and write so that he could work in his father’s shop. The life of a hosier however was not the right path for Blake as he exhibited early on a skill for reading and drawing. Blake’s skill for reading can be seen in his understanding for and use of works such as the Bible and Greek classic literature.