"London" by William Faulkner

             William Blake's poem "London" takes a complex look at life in London, England during the late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds as he lived and experienced it. Blake's use of double meaning words makes this poem both complex and interesting. To better understand this poem it may be helpful to understand some history about London during the time the poem was written. London was at one time the undisputed cultural, economic, religious, educational, and political center of England. It was a city of warehouses, docks, factories, prisons, palaces and slums, of beggars, laborers, shopkeepers, and bankers. This was the time of the industrial revolution; the streets were filthy, the water and air were polluted, and rats were everywhere. The average Londoner lived until age 29, and as many as 1 in 8 drank themselves to death. While there were wealthy merchants and professional classes, the poor were in greatest numbers and were crowded into filthy slums of the city.
             Repetition and rhyme are an integral part of Blake's "London." The first stanza of the poem shows this repetition and rhyme. In lines 1-4, "I wander through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe." This repetition is a type of rhythm in the poem. Other rhyme techniques noticed are the rhyming end lines that follow an ABAB pattern. This rhyming helps the poem flow and move along. The first use of repetition can be seen in
             the first two lines, with the word "chartered." In this case the two words both have the same meaning, but this is not the case throughout the poem. Blake uses "chartered street" and "chartered Thames" to describe public places to which everyone has rights and privileges. Another meaning of "chartered" that becomes more obvious as we read further into the p...

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"London" by William Faulkner. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 02:01, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/14404.html