Exploring Context and Themes in William Blake's 'London' Poem and Genre Analysis

London Songs of Innocence and of Experience William Blake

STARTER Another aspect of exploring context is to consider the poems in relation to the conventions of specific literary or artistic genres. Read page 31 and 32 The pastoral genre . Highlight key points in the notes and try to make links to poems you have already studied.

The Echoing Green In groups, read the poem and give feedback to the rest of the class, try to link your ideas to genre and context.

Context research London in the late 18thcentury: The French Revolution and the English government's response The river Thames and who controlled its use Prostitution in London Marriage The power of the church and the monarchy Recent or ongoing conflicts and the lives of soldiers in the Army

Discussion task In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear: What are the many possible interpretations of this quotation?

London Four quatrains and the use of tetrameter and alternate rhyme scheme, show the disharmony and degradation of life in a city controlled by a rich few, where nature is replaced by a man-made landscape.

London Definition of rhetoric: the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people. In this poem Blake makes a violent assault on the establishment using powerful rhetoric to see beyond the poverty and suffering he sees on the streets of London to the source of the suffering, the churches and palaces, blackened and soaked in blood. Blake wants the reader to see the connections between things, not to blame the soldier or the harlot for their fate but to look further and see how their suffering and victimisation is a symptom of wider social injustice. Consider the simplest of rhetorical devices in the poem, repetition. Which words are repeated in the poem and what is the effect of this repetition? Who are the victims in this poem? What are they victims of and why do they suffer? What plagues does he mean in the last line? (disease imagery) Does Blake offer any sense of escape from repressive systems of power and thought? Is there any optimism in this poem, or is it simply despairing?

London Charter d - This means licenced or owned by the sovereign or a company. The London corporation had rights with regard to the usage of the Thames river. mark Marks Again the deliberate repetition with the verb see on the one hand and then used as a noun meaning evidence or signs on the other. In every The insistent anaphora of the poem underlines the widespread nature of the degradation in London. Cry of fear Because the infant is threatened or beaten Every ban The word means curse, or prohibitions, or banns, words read out in church to permit marriage Mind-forge d manacles a metaphor, chains made by the mind, which thus bind it, imprison it, so that it cannot admit enlightenment or humanity. Chimney sweeper s cry cry of pain. This poem is filled with voices, cursing or crying out in pain. Black ning church appals The church denies or choses to ignore the cries of children suffering. This does not mean the church pities the sweeps. Pun, a pall is a cloth used at funerals to spread over the coffin, to hide death from our sight. Runs in blood down Palace walls The idea is of the hapless dying at the whim of Kings; to ensure the rich and powerful maintain their high social status and protect their power. The blood could also refer to the French Revolution and England s colonial wars. Blasts withers, blights. Plagues marriage hearse - A paradox as hearses are used at funerals not weddings. It seems to mean the horrors that the child will inherit in an evil world as well as the curse of venereal disease.

Written response Explain, with reference to the poem, how Blake attacks those in power and established ways of thinking in the poem London . I would like to see at least 3 paragraphs exploring how those in power and those seen as victims are presented in this poem.