Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka Anuradhapura External Degree Program English Literature E/ENGL 2024

London by William Blake

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

Popularity of “London”: William Blake, a famous English poet and painter, wrote ‘London’. It is a narrative poem about the sufferings during the industrialization. It was first published in 1974 in his volume, Songs of Experience. The poem speaks about the speaker’s journey through the streets of London, portraying the negative aspects of that city. Its also deals with child labor and slavery.

“London” As a Representative of Sorrow: The poem reflects upon the poet’s experiences during his life in London. He narrates what he sees and hears while wandering in the streets of London. The poem begins when the speaker is walking along the Thames River. As he travels along, he encounters many weary and mournful faces. He continues observing and hears crying and sounds of suffering because people are forced to work in horrid condition. Also, he expresses resentment on how poverty and sickness have doomed everything around him. He continues to describe the miserable cries of chimney sweepers, darkening churches and the soldiers who died because of war. At midnight, he hears the prostitute cursing his baby’s cry. This curse would surely affect the innocence and purity of that tiny soul. Thus, London forces people to live a life of misery.

Major Themes in “London”: Effects of industrialization, poverty, materialism and child labor are the major themes of this poem. The poet expresses the darker aspects of London. He discusses how the city is plagued with sickness, poverty and moral corruption. People are not getting legitimate treatment with resultant agony and distress. Death is also one of the prominent themes of this poem. He comments on how the church walls are covered with blood due to wars. Hence, he also tells how the upper class tormented the working people, including children.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “London”

Literary devices are tools used by writers to convey their emotions, ideas, and themes to make texts more appealing to the reader. William Blake has employed some literary devices in this poem to picture the image of London in the early 18^th century. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.

1. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /e/ in “In every voice: in every ban”.
2. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /s/ in “Marks of weakness, marks of woe”.
3. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession. For example, the sound of /s/ in “And the hapless Soldiers sigh”.
4. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,

“But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.”

5. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “I wander thro’ each charter’d street”, “How the Chimney-sweepers cry” and “Runs in blood down Palace walls.”
6. Symbolism: Symbolism means to use symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. Here, “soldier’s sigh” symbolizes the state of frustration, “chimney sweeper” is the symbol of death, darkness and destruction and “harlot’s curse” symbolizes the prostitute’s pathetic life experiences.
7. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects different in nature. For example, “The mind-forg’d manacles I hear” is a metaphor for the hardships of the people working in industries, which is equal to working in prison.
8. Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. The below lines express the sorrow of the citizens suppressed under the upper class.

“In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban.”

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “London”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas in this poem, with each having four lines in it.
2. Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, each stanza is quatrain as the first one.
3. Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme and this pattern continuous till the end.
4. End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, “cry/sigh”, “hear/tear” and “flow/woe.”

The lines stated below are suitable for explaining the life of people leading a life of extreme misery and longing for liberation from oppression.

“In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.”

 The Sick Rose

O rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night,

In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy,

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy

 

In this small poem, 'The Sick Rose' we see Blake's ingenuity and artistic supremacy. In a few deft strokes Blake carves out a crimson rose attacked by a canker worm. The invisible worm is one that flies in night and 'howling storm'. The worm is engaged in a gradual seduction of the rose. It is destructive to the life of the rose.

Sexual Implications:

      The idea expressed by Blake has also been interpreted as having sexual implications. Its subject is copulation. Based on Freudian analysis the rose can be considered as the female and the worm as male. These symbols, or the idea behind them, stirs suppressed feelings of indecency and severe censure, guilt and intimidation. These feelings of inhibition are actually associated with sexual experience especially in the adolescent mind. The libidinal instincts in the adolescent mind are frequently repelled and suppressed due to social prohibition and superstition. The worm, to suit this idea, is aptly described as 'invisible' and it 'flies in the night'. The worm is alive and active at night; and this referance to night hints at the secrecy of the thing as well as its destructive impact. This propitious time that is the night, shows that he comes like a vicious creature vilify and spread inflection into the object he chooses. 'The worm prefers to fly not merely at night but also when the storm blows and there is commotion in the air But all the greater is its power and vigour since it can even withstand the stormy atmosphere. If the worm excels in strength the rose is luxurious. Its cushy netals of joy welcome the strength of the worm though it turns sick later. Alongwith the other aspects we have to stress these positive aspects too.      Though the two poems 'The Blossom' and 'The Sick Rose' come in the sections of 'Innocence' and 'Experience' respectively they can be taken as two characteristic specimens for comparison and contrast. In both poems the subject matter is sexual intercourse, and what is more they are symbolic too. But in 'The Sick Rose', we sense, quite vividly, a reserved and artificially disciplined approach towards the subject of sex. On the other hand 'The Blossom' has a frank, tender and an unorthodox view towards the very topic, but often we may doubt that The Blossom treats sex too trivially and attributes to it an unnecessary and too great an amount of purity. Instead of the tilting blossom of 'The Blossom' here we have a storm, a terrifying and raging wind: but it is all the more thrilling and thriving. Admittedly, the 'Rose' is Sick', yet not devoid of its natural floral 'bed of crimson joy'. The 'Rose' is relatively 'earthly', rather than heavenly which the 'Blossom' is. The final contrast we come across is that in 'The Sick Rose' the poet explores the dark recesses of the being and comes up with gems of beautiful perception.

Symbolism:

      The complex and vague erotic ideas are skilfully transformed into a poem by the poet. The poem helps us visualise a cankered rose plant in a stormy night. But there is more than what meets our eye. The Rose is sick of selfishness. Its innocence suffers slow death and ruin from, the worm or experience. The poet's flight of imagination materialises as the poem stretches into still greater dimensions of meaning and implication. In the words of Mr. Wolf Mankowitz, the kernel of the poem is explicit: "The priests of the Chapel who bind joy and desire with briars are like Night and its attributes in the first two poems. They are black against the light of joy and desire and their darkness is not only their own, but their Chapels and the society in which the institutional 'Thou shalt nots' are given rein". These 'Thou shalt nots' are the social taboos pronouncing 'don'ts' as Bertrand Russell says in his essay 'Happy Man.

      "The joy and desire which are thwarted here, are attacked by a worm in the 'Sick Rose' poem. Here it is immediately apparent that the rose which sickens is a mortal rose. The human rose is attacked by a worm which possesses a 'dark secret called Love', and it is an evil power which destroys the life of the rose. The flower is attacked in its 'bed of crimson joy' and this last imageric phrase can only stand for the sexuality of the mortal rose. The argument of the 'Sick Rose' differentiates between love and sexuality. Love here is destructive, it is a night-force, one of the links in the chain which binds delight in the Earth's Answer. But sexuality, the experience in the 'bed of crimson joy' is the very centre of the life of the rose. When it is attacked the flower sickens and dies. What then is the love which destroys it? Blake uses the word deliberately, and if we think of it as a counter in a commonly played game of communication we shall more clearly see his intention. He uses a personal expression to convey the experience of sexuality because it is something which he has discovered, as it were for himself. But if he has discovered it, it is in spite of love as it is commonly called. Blake is concerned in this short poem with an incredible area of experience. In it sexuality is revealed as the basis of life, the social concept of love, as something destructive to life. Love in its social definition is a negative creed of secretive joyless forbidding : love in Blake's experience is a vital malter of joy, open and sensuous. The insistence upon the need to keep sex open and honest and not 'a dirty sore' is incidentally, just one of the points at which Blake reminds one of D.H. Lawrence. The experience of the sick rose is one which both men recognised, deducing from it similar conclusion. 'The Sick Rose' poem is the concrete expression of Blake's experience of the corrupting effects of 'social' love upon 'creative' sexuality. This last sentence emerges as the gist of the meaning of the poem.

      'The Sick Rose' illustrates Blake's art of song as C.M. Bowra says. The brief poem illustrates in an astonishing way Blake's gift for distilling a complex imaginative idea into a few marvellously telling words. It conjures up the vision of a rose attacked in a stormy night by a destructive worm, and so Blake depicts it in his accompanying illustration. But as in all symbolical poems, we can read other meanings into it and make its images carry a weight of secondary associations. We may say that it refers to the destruction of love by selfishness, of innocence by experience, of spiritual life by spiritual death. All these meanings it can bear, and it is legitimate to make it do so. But the actual poem presents something which is common and fundamental to all these themes. something which Blake has distilled so finely from many particular cases that it has their common quintessential character. And this Blake sees with so piercing and so concentrated a vision that the poem has its own independent life. and needs nothing to supplement it. If we wish to know more about Blake's views on the issues at which the poem hints, we may find them in his prose works and prophetic books. But here he is a poet, and his thoughts are purified and transfigured in song.

Mysticism, Sexuality and Symbolism, but Simple

      Northrop Frye stresses a good deal on the directness and simplicity of the poem, 'The Sick Rose'. It is a piece at once mystic, symbolic and sexual. But Blake never dresses his thoughts as he does in his ironical outcries, in a set of questions, primarily because he is exceptionally conscious of the seriousness of the matter he deals with. The complex network of wordy and elaborated jargons of mysticism never acquire their place in the poem, He reaches the universal Truth (which lies no doubt, in exposing the false social noris) with the help of natural and at images of a rose and canker. Yet greater experience with literature soon shows that it is metaphor which is direct and primitive, and conceptual, thought which is sophisticated. Hence, there is a body of verse that can be called popular in the sense of providing the direct, primitive, metaphorical key to poetic experience for educated and uneducated alike. One may always meet a poem with a set of questions designed to avoid its impact; what does it mean; why is it considered a good poem; is it morally beneficial; does it say profound things about life, and so forth. But such a poem as 'The Sick Rose' has a peculiar power of brushing questions aside, of speaking with the unanswerable authority of poetry itself. Blake's lyrics with many of those of Herrick, Burns, and Donne, the sonnets of Shakespeare. Wordsworth's Lucy poems and a few of the great ballads, are popular poetry in the sense that they are a practically foolproof introduction of poetic experience.

Introduction to the Author William Blake

William Blake was an English poet. He was born in London, England, on 28th November 1757.  Blake was not only an English poet, but a visionary poet of all ages. He lived during Romantic age and his works depict the age of that time. His work could not get fame during his life but later on he turned out to be a visionary poet of all the ages. He was against race discrimination and wrote for the equal rights. He also raised child labor issues in his writings and other major issues of his age in his poetry.

 Introduction to A Poison Tree

A Poison Tree is a short poem and one of the most appreciated works of William Blake. Initially, this poem was published in his collection of Songs Of Experience in the year 1794. A Poison Tree is a descriptive poem that depicts human emotions and their consequences. This poem was published with the title A Poison Tree in 1830 in the London University Magazine. Although Christian Forbearance was its original title and later on it was changed to reflect better thoughts of the poet.

A Poison Tree is about the hatred and corrupted effects of anger towards others. In the poem, Blake shares his experiences with us that once he was angry with one of his friends and told him about the matter of annoyance. Consequently, the anger vanished away and both became friends again. In contrast, he tells that once he was angry over his enemy but he never told him about the matter, the anger kept growing in his mind against enemy and forced him to keep it hidden from his enemy. He symbolizes anger by a poison tree full of fruits which Blake’s enemy happens to steal and consequently dies.

Summary of  A Poison Tree

The poem, A poison tree in comprised on four stanzas. Here is stanza wise summary of A Poison tree for better understanding.

Summary of stanza 1

The poet says in first stanza that once he was angry with his one of the friends due to any reason and he told him clearly about it. By doing so, all his anger against his friend vanished away and again they became friends.

In second half of first stanza, poet narrates another experience that once he got angry with his one enemy and did not tell him about it. This time anger stared growing in poet’s mind.

In the first stanza, we come to know that how it is easy to reconcile with a friend if we clear doubts and misunderstandings. However, on the other hand, if we do not talk to someone when we are angry with him; anger and hate will keep growing in our mind against enemy.

Summary of stanza 2

In second stanza, poet elaborates his experience that he watered his anger every day and night in fears of disclosing it to his enemy. He also shed tears because of hate. Here poet wants to tell that he failed to give up his anger that causes him fear and tears. Wrath kept growing in poets mind by day and night because he feared to reveal it to enemy and in this way memory of ill-activity remained alive in his mind.

In the last two lines of second stanza, Blake says that he sunned his anger with smiles and soft deceitful wiles. Here poet symbolizes his anger as a tree which is as growing in his mind as tree grows in light of sun. In last line, poet says that the deceitful tricks (hiding anger) made the tree grow up in poet’s mind.

Summary of stanza 3

In third stanza, poet explains that the tree kept growing day and night and finally one day it became a full grown tree with a bright apple. “Bright Apple” depicts here something which attracts his enemy to eat it. However, deceitful tricks like deceit and hate made this bright apple fully grown and it is harmful for the enemy

Many critics compare this bright apple with the apple of the Heaven that was forbidden for Adam to eat as believed in Christian and Islamic Theology. Adam and Eve were attracted by Satan (Lucifer) to eat the forbidden apple but it caused a disaster in their lives and they were expelled from the Heaven. Here poet wants to tell that like Lucifer, he kept hidden his intentions and kept smile on his face that caused harm to his enemy.

Some critics refer this bright apple to some of written works of Blake which were stolen by one of his friends and caused shame for his friend latter on.

Summary of stanza 4

In last stanza poets tells about the consequences of that bright apple. Like Adam and Eve, the poet’s enemy stole the bright apple from the garden at night and ate it. Later on, in the morning, the poet is happy when he looks at his enemy lying dead under the tree. Here poet compare himself with Satan as Satan was also glad to see Adam and Eve being expelled from Heaven.

The message poet wants to covey is that anger and hatred make one like Satan and when he plans to take revenge for something bad done to him, one forgets the consequences. Morally, poet tells us that we should clear our misunderstanding until they become like a bright apple that can cause harm.

Analysis of A Poison Tree : Critical appreciation

The poem reveals the power of anger if not controlled at initial stage. Anger is an aggressive and dangerous emotion that we all possess as human beings. In the poem, Blake has stated clearly at the start that when we give up our anger, we can escape from drastic consequences of grown up anger. When poet forgives his friend, he saved himself as well his friend from the harm of the hatred.

When poet keep anger in his mind and it keeps growing by different ways elaborated in the poem cause deadly harm to the enemy of the poet. Instead of clearing doubts and grievances he remembered every little thing that he has wrongly done to put him down and harmed him dreadfully.

Blake clearly states that he intentionally did not forgive his enemy, even though he could. If first case, poet did so and saved his friend from the harm but he did not did so in case of enemy.

Poet tries to explain it by a Biblical reference that when Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat apple but Satan urged them to eat that apple that caused them to being expelled from the Heaven. In the same way, here poets states that if he did not save him his enemy, even though he could save. He did the same act as the Satan did in expelling them from the Heaven. Poet passed smile towards his enemy as Satan urged Adam and Eve politely by hiding internal enmity. And finally poet became glad when his enemy was stretched beneath the tree; he also followed Satan who became glad when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Heaven for eating forbidden apple.

The poem ‘A Poison Tree’ is one of the most striking explorations of the corrupting effects of wrath and hatred in English literature. Blake’s portrayal of anger, bitter, and wrath show the deep level of seriousness rampant in the poem. It is also one of William Blake’s miniature masterpieces.

Major Themes in the Poem

Major themes of the poem, A Poison Tree, are anger, hatred, and revenge. The poem explores the disastrous effects of unexpressed anger that causes to grow hatred. Blake as a visionary writer, dives deep into the darker side of human mind and tries to explain the harm that anger can do. He also explains in the start of the poem that it is quite easy to forgive someone before start of growing of hatred but when it starts to grow, its outcome is drastic.

Symbolism in the Poem

Symbolism is a literary device where something is used to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal meaning.

In this poem

·        Tree symbolizes wrath and anger or loss of patience.

·        Garden is the symbol of the heart where the hatred is natured.

·        Bright apple depicts vengeance.

Sources:

·         https://literarydevices.net/london/

·       https://www.englishliterature.info/2021/02/the-sick-rose-summary-and-                analysis.html

·     https://literaryenglish.com/summary-and-analysis-of-a-poison-tree-by-william-        blake/