methods context message/analysis
London
● The poem is in the form of a song and has a regular iambic meter and abab rhyme
scheme 9lines 1 and 2, 3 and 4 of each stanza rhyming).
● This forcefully expresses Blake’s views.
● At the same time, the song form is bitterly ironic given the grim content
● Blake uses slight departures from the metre to emphasize the meaning
● In the same narrative, Blake pictures himself wandering through London observing
the passers-by.
● His wanderings extend, at least in his imagination, late into the night. Blake evidently
saves what for him is worst, as shown by stanza 4 beginning with ‘But most’
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
● Speaker walking around taking notes
● Speaker’s point of view experience
● Document of the reality of preconception
● immediacy(present tense) happening now
● The reader feels as if they're too walking around London with him
● Want them to notice something that they wouldn't normally
● “Each” - analysing it deeply
● “Charter’d” - ownership is recorded in some way
● A charter is a contract that gives someone the right to own land, property, etc. Blake
is commenting on how every part of London is owned by someone and so the city
itself is not free.
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
● Parts of the city is owned- power in London
● People are trying to control nature -irony
● Humankind's desire to control/overcome nature
And mark in every face I meet
● “And” (broken grammatical rule) adds immediacy
● They’re doing it now, it's not going to end- “mark”-notice
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
● A sense of permanency-”marks”
● Vulnerability and sadness “weakness”, “woe”
● “Mark” has two meaning a) to notice b) a stain or blemish
In every cry of every Man,
● repetition-anaphora
● Marks of woe affect everyone as they are passed down
● Even the rich are drained
● Sound imagery
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
London
● The poem is in the form of a song and has a regular iambic meter and abab rhyme
scheme 9lines 1 and 2, 3 and 4 of each stanza rhyming).
● This forcefully expresses Blake’s views.
● At the same time, the song form is bitterly ironic given the grim content
● Blake uses slight departures from the metre to emphasize the meaning
● In the same narrative, Blake pictures himself wandering through London observing
the passers-by.
● His wanderings extend, at least in his imagination, late into the night. Blake evidently
saves what for him is worst, as shown by stanza 4 beginning with ‘But most’
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
● Speaker walking around taking notes
● Speaker’s point of view experience
● Document of the reality of preconception
● immediacy(present tense) happening now
● The reader feels as if they're too walking around London with him
● Want them to notice something that they wouldn't normally
● “Each” - analysing it deeply
● “Charter’d” - ownership is recorded in some way
● A charter is a contract that gives someone the right to own land, property, etc. Blake
is commenting on how every part of London is owned by someone and so the city
itself is not free.
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
● Parts of the city is owned- power in London
● People are trying to control nature -irony
● Humankind's desire to control/overcome nature
And mark in every face I meet
● “And” (broken grammatical rule) adds immediacy
● They’re doing it now, it's not going to end- “mark”-notice
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
● A sense of permanency-”marks”
● Vulnerability and sadness “weakness”, “woe”
● “Mark” has two meaning a) to notice b) a stain or blemish
In every cry of every Man,
● repetition-anaphora
● Marks of woe affect everyone as they are passed down
● Even the rich are drained
● Sound imagery
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
