Comparison Between “London” by William Blake and “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” by William Wordsworth
Comparison between “London” by William Blake and “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” by William Wordsworth
The city of London has inspired many poets throughout the ages. Two of the most distinctive portrayals are William Blake’s “London” published in Songs of Experience in 1974 and “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” by William Wordsworth. While both Blake and Wordsworth comment on the conflict between appearance and reality, Blake shows the gloomy ugliness by taking down London’s streets. William Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ reveals the beauty of London from upriver. Their poems symbolize British royalty and politics.
Setting, tone and theme help reader develop a greater appreciation both the pleasures and pains of life. Both poets’ writing is around the same time. However they have totally different views of the same city. “London” “London” has four quartrains, with very regular ABAB rhyming schemes. The repetition is also evident in the language. Words such as ‘charter’d’, ‘mark’ and ‘every’ are repeated in the poem and create a sense of urgency. Wordsworth’s poem is a sonnet, fourteen lines, written in regular metre of Iambic Pentameters, lines of ten syllables.
Both titles are very clear about the content in the poems so therefore setting the scene. Both poems are set near London’s famous Thames River. “London” begins with an attack on the new Capitalism of the 1700s in the lines, ‘I wander through each charter’d” street, near where the charter’d Thames does flow’, Blake has repeated the word “charter’d” to sharpen the ironic point whereas Wordsworth is just viewing London from above. The narrator of “Westminster Bridge” feels forced to pause and examine the city from the vantage point of the bridge that crosses the Thames. The narrators’s soul is stirred by the majestic ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples that filled the heart of London. To the narrator, it is more perfect and more attractive than all of God’s
The city of London has inspired many poets throughout the ages. Two of the most distinctive portrayals are William Blake’s “London” published in Songs of Experience in 1974 and “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” by William Wordsworth. While both Blake and Wordsworth comment on the conflict between appearance and reality, Blake shows the gloomy ugliness by taking down London’s streets. William Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ reveals the beauty of London from upriver. Their poems symbolize British royalty and politics.
Setting, tone and theme help reader develop a greater appreciation both the pleasures and pains of life. Both poets’ writing is around the same time. However they have totally different views of the same city. “London” “London” has four quartrains, with very regular ABAB rhyming schemes. The repetition is also evident in the language. Words such as ‘charter’d’, ‘mark’ and ‘every’ are repeated in the poem and create a sense of urgency. Wordsworth’s poem is a sonnet, fourteen lines, written in regular metre of Iambic Pentameters, lines of ten syllables.
Both titles are very clear about the content in the poems so therefore setting the scene. Both poems are set near London’s famous Thames River. “London” begins with an attack on the new Capitalism of the 1700s in the lines, ‘I wander through each charter’d” street, near where the charter’d Thames does flow’, Blake has repeated the word “charter’d” to sharpen the ironic point whereas Wordsworth is just viewing London from above. The narrator of “Westminster Bridge” feels forced to pause and examine the city from the vantage point of the bridge that crosses the Thames. The narrators’s soul is stirred by the majestic ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples that filled the heart of London. To the narrator, it is more perfect and more attractive than all of God’s