William Blake’s, London and Gwendolyn Brooks’s “First Fight. Then Fiddle” are two poems that evolve around very similar themes of war, oppression and an unheard story. In London, we have Blake expressing the infested poverty and adversity of a city and Brook is contradicting the effects of a war and art. Both poems have a basic theme behind their publication. A voice that must be heard but it’s not; to be able to restore either humanity or music. William Blake aims to make us understand the conditions that underlay the whole of London in the 1790s. The poem, London is about many discouraged citizens living in the city. It represents the whole English society during the time when the human condition was at its worst. The poem highlights the social-economic challenges that carried the order of the day as well as the major evils in the community. Blake introduces literary devices such as repetition and imagery to help the reader feel as though they were walking the streets of London. Blake makes the vibrant horrors of London very vivid in his writing which sets a very obscure and dreary tone. He describes a time when riots broke out, houses burned, and individuals’ lives were devastated. “In every voice: in every ban… How the Chimney-sweepers cry… Every blackening Church appalls… Every blackning Church appalls, ” (London, 7-10) The speaker emphasizes, on the suffering of the minorities and the ignorance the wealthy and elite display. Blake also talks about the immorality
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
Protest poems and songs are, and have been throughout history, an effective medium of expressing their composer’s concerns or protests to a wide audience. The main themes behind each of these creative media are influenced heavily by the context in which they were created and focus on the composer’s opinions about controversial issues of that time. Poet Bruce Dawe, through his poem ‘homecoming’ and singer-songwriter Barry Maguire, through his song ‘Eve of destruction’ were able to explore and express their similar concerns about the harsh and dehumanising aspects of war and the effects on society, with Maguire focussing on the ignorance of society toward the detrimental effects of war and Dawe reflecting on emotional trauma experienced by those who lost love ones to the brutality of war.
One way that Blake uses to convey his anger on what he sees is through
The face of racism was a constant image for the African American soldiers. In “Tu Do Street,” the division of black and white soldiers in the social settings was evident. The poem begins with, “Music divides
Since the emergence of written history, many fables regarding war have encompassed a significant portion of prosodic literature. Two of the foremost war poets of the 19th and 20th century—Emily Dickinson and Rupert Brooke—have both written about profound implications of war on society and also upon the human spirit albeit in two very different styles. The book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, theorizes through Allie, that Emily Dickinson was indubitably the superior war poet. Furthermore, when we analyze their works as well, we realize the invariable fact that Dickinson’s work delves into war with a much more holistic approach as well. She not only honours the soldiers for their valiant efforts, but also deftly weaves notions of liberty and civilian duty in regards to war as well as compared to Rupert Brooke who carried a romanticized imagery of martyrs within his poetry. In summation, Emily Dickinson is a superior war poet for her incisive analysis of death, and human nature in correspondence to war as compared to the patriotic salvos of Rupert Brooke’s poetry.
London, by Blake is a poem rather than a sonnet, composed of four stanzas, each containing four lines. This effect breaks up the poem and helps to give a very plodding, interrupted tone. The rhymes however are consistent, every other line rhymes. This can represent the regimented, predictable nature, reflected in the industry and mechanisation. The contrast to the flowing poem of Wordsworth is evident and makes obvious that the poet's views differ, regarding London.
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.
London by William Blake is a poem characterised by its dark and overbearing tone. It is a glimpse at a period of England's history (particularly London) during war and poverty, experienced by the narrator as he walks through the streets. Using personification it draws a great human aspect to its representation of thoughts and beliefs of the narrator.
and that he believes them. The poem also translates into how living in the city is toilsome and that the city is unrelenting. On the other hand it shows how the city can be prosperous and happy with the city’s disadvantages. in the second half of the poem it’s telling how nomatter what is wrong with the city, the people are still proud of who they are.
In the second verse Blake uses repetition in the words ‘in every’ to stress the suffering that people went through in those times. In the line ‘In every infant’s cry of fear’ Blake is emphasising that in those days suffering began at birth, he is also being ironic because for us it is not normal in England for children to born into suffering but unfortunately in those days it was, even though it shouldn’t of been. He was trying to emphasise this to show that it shouldn’t be happening. In the line ‘In every voice, in every ban’ Blake is trying to get us to understand that in this time of industrial revolution that it wasn’t just a few people that were affected, it was many and that the people who had power and money they thought it was okay to put restrictions on their lives and felt that some of it was their own fault.
William Blake was a painter, engraver and poet of the Romantic era, who lived and worked in London. Many of Blake’s famous poems reside in his published collection of poems titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience. This collection portrays the two different states of the human soul, good and evil. Many poems in the Songs of Innocence have a counterpart poem in the Songs of Experience. The poem “A Poison Tree” is found in the Songs of Experience and it delves into the mind of man tainted with sin and corruption that comes with experience. In a simple and creative style, the religious theology of the Fall of Man is brought to life. The poem tells the story of how man fell from a state of innocence to impurity, focusing on the harmful repercussions of suppressed anger. Blake utilities many literary devices to successfully characterizes anger as an antagonist with taunting power.
William Blake’s poem “London” takes a complex look at life in London, England during the late seventeen hundreds into the early eighteen hundreds as he lived and experienced it. Blake’s use of ambiguous and double meaning words makes this poem both complex and interesting. Through the following explication I will unravel these complexities to show how this is an interesting poem.
The two authors have very different ways of expressing their own views on London. While Blake may use crude language to describe his experience, Wordsworth makes the city appear so pleasant and warm. When Wordsworth writes about London, he describes it as a beautiful, charming place that is clear and peaceful; Like when he writes “All bright and glittering in the smokeless air” (8) he describes the air as a bright place that isn’t polluted with the factories and mess. Unlike Wordsworth, Blake describes London as a dark dirty place filled with desperation and fear. For example, when Blake writes “In every cry of every man” (5) he tells the reader about the people of London who are crying for help in the painful, tear-jerking city of London; due to the fact that this was written in a time of the industrial revolution when children were forced into labor, and families were torn apart with work and couldn’t provide. The world in which Blake was experiencing was a sad and desperate time, unlike Wordsworth. Despite the constant contrast of language and descriptives, they are both still talking about the same city.
Many poets and artist usually write with a purpose and to bring to light certain issues. A major theme of many poets and singers throughout the years has been politics or how things are at a given time due to the polices in place or governmental structure. By doing this the authors and composers are able to express to others their feelings and make issues more known. The poet William Blake and punk rock artists The Sex Pistols both try to bring awareness and express the similar feeling of their class in society being abandoned by their government in the year they were writing their works. The poem “London” by William Blake is about the chaos and helpless situation going on in London during the french revolution in the 1790s. While “God
William Blake and his works have been discussed all his life and he always portrayed them in is poetry. It is his experiences and disgust with London society in the late 18th century .