'London' by Blake
- Created by: sp.15
- Created on: 11-12-19 18:04
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- 'London' by Blake
- Ideas about power and conflict
- The speaker is angry that people in power do not help people who are in misery.
- Identifies powerful people and institutions that don't help: landowners, church and monarchy.
- The misery infects everything, even innocent children and weddings.
- Young children are forced to be chimney sweeps and prostitutes to earn money.
- People have trapped themselves in their misery: "mind-forged manacles"
- Context
- The poem draws attention to the corruption and terrible conditions.
- Blake believed in equality and hated people who did not use power to help.
- The christian church was very powerful, but Blake suggests that it is corrupt, dirty and ugly: "balck'ning church"
- Language
- The speaker uses the senses to make the misery vivid: sights and sounds
- Powerful language exposes misery: "cry", "appals", "hapless" , "blasts and "blights"
- The end uses oxymoron: "marriage hearse" links a happy wedding to death.
- Metaphor of "mind-forged manacles" creates an image of people creating handcuffs for their own minds - they are unable to help themselves or escape.
- Form
- 'London' is a dramatic monologue to make the poem personal and passionate.
- The regular rhythm could reflect the sound of the speaker's feet as he "wander's"
- The ABAB rhyme scheme sounds innocent, which is ironic as the speaker explores the corruption of innocent lives.
- Structure
- The speaker walks through London and describes what he sees and hears.
- Repetition of "every" shows that misery is present throughout London
- The first stanza is what the speaker sees; the second stanza is what he hears.
- Quotations to learn
- "every"
- "mind-forged manacles"
- "black'ning church"
- "marriage hearse"
- Ideas about power and conflict
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