How_London_Is_Portrayed_by_Nineteenth_Century_Poets.

February 2010 How London Is Portrayed By Nineteenth Century Poets By Neil Henderson In this following essay I will be comparing two poems written in the nineteenth century about London. One is called ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth, and the other is called ‘London’ by William Blake. Both of these poems are in complete contrast unit about everything in them such as, one is for London and the other is against it. I will be writing about the structure, content, mood, and ideas of each poem. The poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’, written by William Wordsworth, is a nineteenth century sonnet about the poet standing on Westminster Bridge in the early morning describing everything that he can see. As this poem is written in 1802, the London that he can see is very different to the London of today. As he says, ‘open unto the fields, and to the sky.’ This means that he can see fields by standing on Westminster Bridge and that would be a very unusual this to see in the London of today. Wordsworth says, ‘This city now Doth like a garment, wear the beauty of the morning’ Wordsworth uses that simile to give the reader the impression that the buildings are cocooned in sunlight, like a caterpillar is cocooned. Wordsworth describes the air as being smokeless as he says, ‘All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.’ So he is describing the air of London of being smokeless which must mean that he was looking as London in the early hours of the morning as in the nineteenth century during the day the air of London would be full of smog from fires in the houses and factories. Towards the end of the poem Wordsworth says, ‘the very houses seem asleep’ That would be personification as he is saying that the houses and streets of the city seem so quiet it is as if they were just sleeping getting ready to awake latter on in the day. The mood of the poem is very calm as he doesn’t mention any noise throughout the poem at all because it is silent all the way through the city. Also the language that he uses is very passive as he says things like, ‘This city now doth, and ‘the river glideth at its own sweet will’ When Wordsworth writes like this it sounds verbally soothing and makes the reader feel calm. When the author is writing this poem I personally think that he would be feeling due to what he can see. In my opinion the view that he can see from Westminster Bridge fills his soul with joy, as he says, ‘Ne’er saw I, never felt, calm so deep!’ which mean that he has never felt at such peace with the world; he feels tranquil just standing there looking at the river flow and the world go by. This poem is structured as a sonnet (a poem of fourteen lines) and is split into two sections, one of eight lines which is called octet, and the second section of six lines is called an estet. In the octet the poet talks about what he can see, and in the estet the poet talks about how he is feeling. This poem has a rhyming scheme of ABBAABBACDCDCD. At the beginning of the poem William Wordsworth uses enjambment ‘Dull would he be of soul ... touching in its majesty’ this is where the poet links up two lines in order for them to make sense. Some of the words in this poem really interest me, but one that really stands out for me is ne’er, the poet uses this word instead of never to keep the poem at a consistent, steady rate, and to keep the right amount of syllables in each line. Another word that really interests me is steep as it is a very nineteenth century word that means soak, and he uses it to match the rhyming scheme. In my opinion this poem is very soothing and relaxing to read as when I read it, it makes me feel as the poet did when he was writing the poem. I personally think that the poet has done a really good job of making the reader feel how he feels by describing the view the best he can. The second poem that I read ‘London’ by William Blake, is completely different to ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ as it is in completely against London throughout the poem, also Blake describes what he can hear walking through the streets of London. We know this because he says, ‘I wonder through each charted street.’ This means that while he is writing this he is thinking about walking through streets that are on a map. Following those remarks Blake goes on to say, ‘And mark in every face I meet marks of weakness marks of woe.’ He says this to over exaggerate, (hyperbole) the peoples mood, as he is saying that every person that he walks past is upset or depressed, this is a hyperbole because I know that not every person Blake walks past can be as miserable as he makes them out to be. In the second stanza of the poem Blake uses repetition and a hyperbole by saying, ‘In every cry ... voice, in every ban,’ This is repetition because he is repeating in every, I think that he uses this to emphasise the hyperbole that he uses, this is a hyperbole because in my opinion not every person that walks past the poet is the same, as some people may be happy that walk past him, but there will probably still be quite a lot of miserable people to. In verse three Blake goes on to say, ‘How chimney-sweeper’s cry’ here he is describing what he can hear, in this case it happens to be chimney sweepers crying out for business. Then he says, ‘And the hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace’ he says this because he hears some unlucky (maybe wounded) soldiers sighing and moaning, so Blake blames it on the royalty for sending them to fight for their country. This tells us that William Blake is probably against war and doesn’t agree with it at all. In the final stanza Blake talks about prostitution and what he can hear coming from the young prostitutes, for example he says, ‘How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new born infants tear.’ This means that he can hear young prostitutes swearing at their new born baby that has been born out of wedlock; which would be a very unusual thing in Blake’s time as almost everyone would be married before having a child. In the very final line Blake says ‘And blights with plagues the marriage hearse’ In saying that Blake is assuming that the prostitutes will never get married because of the likely hood of them having a sexually transmitted disease. When Blake wrote this poem he is probably feeling a bit one sided against London, as all the thing he says about the city are bad things. Blake was probably feeling a bit upset or even angry when he was writing this poem because it is not a very uplifting poem and it has a very angry feel to it. This poem is the complete opposite to happy as I personally think that there are no bits in that make you want to sit and ponder about it in a good way like the William Wordsworth poem. But on the other hand it does have some interesting parts in it that make you get dragged into the poem to understand the perspective that Blake sees London. This poem is set out into four verses with four lines in each. It has a rhyming scheme of ABAB ABAB ABAB ABAB. In my opinion this is a very effective way to write a poem because it makes it easy to read by splitting the poem up into separate verses. In the William Blake poem ‘London’ there are a couple of words that catch my attention. The first one is ‘manacles’ I like this word because Blake uses it instead of chains to keep the right amount of syllables in each line, also it is a word that is defiantly used less in today’s society. The second word that interests me is ‘Hapless’ because it is a word that means unlucky, and that can have various different reasons, but in this case it is used for wounded, but you can be unlucky in many different ways, and that is why I like it, as it is a bit mysterious. The two poems that I have read ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ and ‘London’ are in complete contrast with each other, and I very much prefer ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth due to the fact that is a much more uplifting poem than ‘London’ and it make me feel much more happier than when i read the William Blake poem. The London of the nineteenth century is very different to the London of today, because in ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ he says it is silent in the morning, when the London of today is a twenty-four hour city and it would be very difficult to find a time of day were London is silent. In William Blake’s poem ‘London’ there are a few things that inform the reader that the London of the nineteenth century is different to modern day London but one that stands out is the fact that there are chimney sweepers crying out for business, when in the London of today you wouldn’t find any chimney sweepers if not very few. So in conclusion the London of the nineteenth century is very different from the London of today.