Critical Appreciation Of William Blakes London Essays -

Critical Appreciation Of William Blakes London 22nd September 2000 A Critical appreciation of William Blakes London. William Blake who lived in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century was a poet, a philosopher, a radical, an artist, and a great thinker; who was able to bring about remarkable results with the simplest of means in all of his work. He wrote his poems with deep personal emotions but if we look further and ignore the prophetic qualities we discover a further intended meanings of a strong political and social level. He was a critic of his own era but his poetry also strikes a chord in ours. He was one of several poets of the time who restored emotion and feelings into poetry, and so was one of the first romantics. Blake lived during a period of intense social changes, the industrial revolution, the French revolution and the American revolution all happened during his lifetime. Blake was witness to the transformation of a agricultural society to an industrial society, which is where the basis for some of his poems stand. As an example, we may look towards William Blakes London from his songs of experience, here Blake comments on a city he both loves and hates, it shows his disapproval of changes which occurred in his times. Blake describes the woes that the Industrial revolution and the breaking of the common mans ties to the land results in. He uses many methods to gain the perfect description of how he saw industrial London but the most outstanding method is his use of imagery. His first use of imagery is the first and second lines of the first stanza, he uses the words charterd streets and charterd Thames. A charter is a legal document which gives legal powers to the council of a town or city which allows them to be able to create there own laws within the boundaries of that place. The imagery suggests that not only do the streets of London have to follow the rules but that the River Thames has to be regulated as well. The lawmakers have tamed and controlled a free flowing river. This use of imagery emphasises that everything in the city including natural forces are enslaved by the city. In the next line, Marks of weakness, marks of woe, there could be a play on words, Mark means both to see or to notice but then again there could be another meaning; like a physical mark upon someones face like a sign of grief or misery. The use of the word mark I think, is deliberately repeated to sound like the blows of a hammer. Blake uses this imagery to emphasise the pain which industrial London is enforcing on the poor, physically and mentally. The use of mind-forgd manacles in line 8 is used to describe why the people are so unhappy, this is because they are not free as there lives are being controlled by oppressive or restrictive ideas within their own minds and created by the minds of others. Also by using the manacle the word sounds heavy, just like their plight. Blackning Church appalls is a vivid and chilling image. The church could be blackened literally because of the soot from Londons chimneys, or it could be because the sun is setting and the outline of the church can be seen in the fading light. Blakes use of Blackning could be symbolic; the church which should be a source of moral warmth and light, is seen as cold and dark. There could be another meaning to the word appalls like a pall over a coffin so it is used to emphasise that the church ignores what it doesnt want to see. Another shocking and surprising image is Runs in blood. This is where the wounded soldiers blood is running down the walls of the rulers for which he has been fighting, so it emphasises the fact that the poor were being blocked out by the government with no means to live, and many to die. The youthful harlots curse is a contradicting image which makes you think how could a harlot be youthful? It shows that even children