William Blake, London and Chimney Sweepers
Essay by people • June 8, 2011 • Essay • 947 Words (4 Pages) • 2,444 Views
Poetry does indeed require the reader to understand at least some of the writer's intension. Understanding Blake's intention in the poems London and The Chimney Sweeper helps the reader to gain a deeper insight into Blake's messages. In there two poems Blake's intention is to criticize life during the time of the Industrial Revolution.
In London, Blake uses repetition and pun to help the reader understand his intentions. "Charter'd" repeated twice emphasises the strength of an institute. The word means hired or rented which suggest a city landlord or an economics idealism during the period of Industrial Revolution, the meaning of the word conveys a message that an economic is control over every thing including natural features, land, must have a license to trade or even the Thames river is rented to charter for water transportation and to trade the business. "Marks" or "mark", also repeated three times to show the strength of physical of weakness of people - how they worked hard, look miserable and also to show the emotional of people's sorrow - how miserable, sickness feeling they have received. "Every" repeated six times, to send a message of how universal the suffering is covered "every" where, the miserableness and sorrow that spread to "every" one in London, no matter where or who you are, you will just "hear" their voices.
Industrial Revolution is a sorrow era that Blake conveys by metaphor and contrast from those exploiter, institutions, charters, churches, palace, and capitalism with those poor victims, chimneysweepers, soldiers, harlots. Blake conveys how capitalism is control everything that London has became about money only. "Near where the charter'd Thames does flow", support Blake's message that even land and river have been involved in economic cycle, or even sex that should be done for those lovers but were changed for and idea that sex is an exchange with money that "the youthful harlots curse" to exploiter, as prostitutes also need money but have no alternate choice. The church and palace should be the place that give protection and take care of the very weaken suffers to dwell when they need help - but institutes just omit those poor people, "blackning church" instead of protect those chimneysweepers who are the weakest people and need protection either physical or psychological, they omit them and go to praise the god with those thoughtful and exploiter people. The "palace wall," where it protrays the empire power and materialism of country- was actually built on the suffering and death of soldiers that they feel so "hapless," their loyalty and sacrifice didn't mean anything to those royalties.
The form and sound of a very strict rhyme schemes of abab is another techniques that help me understand more about Blake's messages, street with meet, flow with woe, man with ban, fear with hear and etcetera emphasis the stress of miserable, suffer,
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