How is London presented in the poem 'London' and 'I Wandered as Lonely as a Cloud'?
(When you think about England, think about the different nouns (people, places things). Also think about the emotion, thoughts and feelings that these nouns create).
Screenshots of the poems there. Please have at least one point for each poem please
Answers
Answer:
Blake uses the literary and poetic idea of a 'dystopia' to present London as depressing and misanthropic, and its people psychologically constricted and submissive. In the first stanza, Blake 'mark[s] in every face[...] marks of weakness, marks of woe'. Interestingly, 'mark' here has two meanings. It is used both as a verb (as a synonym of perceive), and a noun (as a synonym of 'sign', or 'evidence'). This creates a connection between Blake's 'marking', his perception of the marks, and the marks themselves. The repetition of the word's harsh, monosyllabic sound thus serves to emphasise Blake's contempt for the 'marks' of apathy that he 'marks'; an apathy which is further emphasised by the passive and and soft-sounding consonant, 'w', which creates an alliteration equating 'weakness' with 'woe'. Already Blake is suggesting that the 'woe[s]' of the Londoners are a result of their passivity and 'weakeness'