London summer morning what do the shop display?
Answers
In “London’s Summer Morning,” Mary Robinson contradicts the positive and negative connotations of the beauty and chaos in the typical London morning. Robinson describes the chaotic environment of the mornings in London. She introduces the poem with negative words such as, “sooty, dingy, hot, and noisy” to present a chaotic setting and give the reader a sense of the mood of the poem. However, Robinson changes her word choice to a positive mood with words such as, “cools, splendor, glittering, and gay” to present the positive aspects of the streets of London. Despite Robinson’s choice to start and end the poem with negative connotations, she has an underlying argument that explains the beautiful consumerism that takes place in the chaotic nature of the mornings in London.
Robinson begins her description of the unpleasant morning by describing the smoky streets and the soot-covered chimney boy yelling out his business to start promoting early in the morning. Following the obnoxious yelling boy, noisy sounds of the wagons and carts, and vendors begin to set up their shops. This brings upon a feeling of annoyance since many people are sleeping.
Robinson changes the tone of the poem by changing her word choice. “And the fresh-sprinkled pavement cools the feet of early walkers” (16). “Fresh-sprinkled” and “cools” bring about a sense of relief in the poem. The barefoot people have been scorched by the hot sun and are receiving relief from the damp pavement. Along with a sense of relief, the reader are receiving a sense of appreciation of beauty in lines twenty to twenty-four.
Robinson explains how scorching the sun is in the beginning of the poem, but then shows appreciation stating, “now the sun darts burning splendor on the glittering pane, save where the canvas awning throws a shade on the gay merchandise. Now spruce and trim, in shops (where beauty smiles with industry)” (24). This quote shows the beauty customers see in the store windows. The sun almost acts as an asset to the merchandise by drawing the consumers eyes to the glittering pane displaying the beautiful merchandise below.
The structure of this poem is also broken up into two types of imagery, auditory and visual imagery. The auditory imagery occurs in the beginning and ending sections of the poem while the body of the poem consists of visual imagery portraying the shops and merchandise on the streets of London. I find this structure to be set up nicely. Robinson draws the reader in with the auditory imagery letting the reader imagine the sounds and small visual details of the setting. Then she intrigues the reader stating, “Now the sun darts burning splendor on the glittering pane, save where the canvas awning throws a shade on the gay merchandise” (20-23).
Another interesting focal point in the poem is the repetition of words throughout the poem. Robinson does not repeat words often, which makes them seem more significant when noticed. For instance, Robinson repeats the word “busy” three times in the poem: in the beginning, middle, and end. The first line states, “Who has not waked to list the busy sounds of summer’s morning?” (1-2) and connects it to the ending sentence stating, “And the poor poet wake from busy dreams, to paint the summer morning” (41-42). These two lines give off a different mood.
In the beginning of the poem, readers may feel a sense of annoyance since the poem begins with a rhetorical question about the busy sounds in the morning. It almost makes the reader agree with the Robinson, because she is presenting such a blunt rhetorical question. However, the last two lines of the poem portray a different mood. “And the poor poet wake from busy dreams to paint the summer morning” makes the reader feel bad for the poet, because he is tired and even his dreams become busy with the busy sounds he awakes to (41-42). Poor is not perceived as literally poor, but in a way that makes the reader feel bad for him, since he never gets any rest. The poet awakes from the busy sounds in the morning and cannot help but to write about the noisy sounds he hears.