'London' af Blake og 'Composed upon Westminster Bridge' af Wordsworth

B: Read about the The Romantic age (1789-1832) and watch this video

I have made also video where I draw out some of the most relevant aspects to consider and how to look at the rhyme and rhythm in these two poems.

Read William Blake “London” Answer the following questions:

1.Stanza 1: Who is the speaker? What does he do? Does he have a specific aim? What does he see? What is the effect of the repetitions in the stanza?

The speaker in stanza 1 is the first person, creating a dramatic monologue from the perspective of the speaker, who narrates themselves wandering through the overcrowded, formidable and nefarious streets of 18th century London.

The speaker's aim is to show that the population faces control and constraints from those that chartered the city, akin to an authoritarian regime.

The “marks” on the faces of those the speaker sees could be physical or psychological scarring either from the effects of the disease and crime-ridden city streets or the apparent oppressive, authoritarian regime. The repetition of the clause in the first stanza’s final line is syntactic parallelism, employed by Blake to add emphasise the extent of the visible suffering evident on 18th century London’s busy streets.