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Comparison between london by william blake and upon westminster bridge by william wordsworth
Comparison between london by william blake and upon westminster bridge by william wordsworth
Comparison between london by william blake and upon westminster bridge by william wordsworth
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William Blake’s poem “London” focuses on the sufferings and trials of the lowest social class in London society. In contrast, Joseph Addison’s essay “The Royal Exchange” explores the benefits of trade for merchants and other wealthy benefactors in English society. These two texts share one similarity – they both are set in London. However, this is where their similarities end. Both texts showcase distinct aspects of London culture – one highlights the lives of the impoverished, and the other focuses on the wealthy tradesmen of London.
Whereas Blake’s poem focuses on universal suffering, Addison’s essay proves that Addison has a limited view of London society – he only revels in things that advantage the wealthy. When Blake wrote his poem in 1794, he did not have the formal education possessed by most of his contemporaries, which is reflected in his writing. Blake often focused on spiritual issues; he had an obsession of sorts with prophesying through poetry. In contrast, Addison’s essay was published in 1711. This essay was published at a time when foreign trade was just beginning. One might argue that Addison’s essay takes on a more materialistic stance than Blake’s poem. The two share few similarities, so where is the purpose in placing them in conversation with each other? I would argue that these texts are compared in order to gain a better understanding of London. There is no one way to study the city itself. These texts are crucial because they show the lowest and highest people in London society. Here are a few central propositions to illuminate my argument: Blake’s poem and Addison’s essay reveal different cultural and political views. To begin, these cultural differences appear through a few choice words in each ...
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...ering views reveal the multi-faceted nature of the city. Though written at two different times, these authors reveal that London cannot be viewed in one, simplistic way. Rather, the city boasts all types of people and classes. Blake would argue that the universality of suffering is a defining trait of London society, and this is exemplified in his nameless, faceless, timeless narrator. However, Addison would recognize London as an opportunity for economic (and personal) growth worldwide as evidenced in his obsession with foreign places and his first-person narrator in his essay. I would propose that both of these aspects of London need to be addressed in order to better appreciate the city as a whole. Cultural and political differences aside, both authors would advocate that London is a unique city, thus why there is a need to write on all aspects of city life.
The City of Dreadful Delight starts with some cultural analysis of the historical background that helped to produce the social landscape of Victorian London. In discussing the transformation of London, Walkowitz argues for seeing more than merely a shift from one type of city to another but rather a conflicted layering of elite male spectatorship, the “scientific” social reform, and W. T. Stead's New Journalism. Here Walkowitz investigates the “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.” The “Maiden Tribute” consisted of a series of articles, authored by Stead and presented in the penny press, which exposed the sale of girls into prostitution. According to Walkowitz, these stories relied on the new scientific methods of social investigation, but the...
The setting is London in 1854, which is very different to anything we know today. Johnson’s description of this time and place makes it seem like a whole other world from the here and now....
Starting at the bank of Thames, from 54 B.C. to present day, the historical novel London, by Edward Rutherfurd, charts the two-thousand year old tale of families through ever-shifting fortunes and fates in England’s capital from the time of the Druids to the occurrence of the Blitz. The novel follows the family history of seven fictional families who interact with one another throughout the novel as a way to depict the events that have made English history for more than two millenniums. The families stem from Celtic, Anglo-Saxon,Norman, and Danish decent, creating a diverse culture within London.Furthermore, Rutherfurd intertwines the lives of these fictional families with appearances from historical
Writers like Henry Mayhew (London Labour and the London Poor) and Jack London (The People of the Abyss), and artists like Gustave Dore (London) and John Thomson (Street Life in London) - all chroniclers of the desperate conditions of those in the East End - helped enlighten many around world - particularly those who lived just beyond the permeable boundaries of that notorious area - as to the needs of the city's unfortunate members of society. Their works called out - whether directly or indirectly - for some sort of radical social reform, but there was little immediate response.
“One by one, many of the working class quarters of London have been invaded by the middle-classes—upper and lower. Shabby, modest mews and cottages—two rooms up and two down—have been taken over, when their leases have expired, and have become elegant, expensive residences .... Once this process of ‘gentrification’ starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.”
The poem "London" by William Blake paints a frightening, dark picture of the eighteenth century London, a picture of war, poverty and pain. Written in the historical context of the English crusade against France in 1793, William Blake cries out with vivid analogies and images against the repressive and hypocritical English society. He accuses the government, the clergy and the crown of failing their mandate to serve people. Blake confronts the reader in an apocalyptic picture with the devastating consequences of diseasing the creative capabilities of a society.
angered him and inspired him to convey his ideas and feelings through the poem 'London'. In the poem, Blake travels through London and describes what he sees. And as a result, he sees a severely oppressed society that is caused by the authority, such as royalty, and the church. This is as Blake sees. that even the streets and the thames are 'chartered' and governed.
Close your eyes and sit back in your recliner. Let the cool breeze refresh you as you relax in your hardwood floored den and sip your English tea. Now picture London. What kind of an image comes to mind? Perhaps the sophisticated languages of its inhabitants or just the aura of properness that encompasses typical visions of the great city of London. I am not writing to deny the eloquence of London, I am instead writing to challenge the notion of sophistication that many of us hold true to London. Could a city of such brilliance and royalty ever fester with the day to day problems that we witness daily in our own country? I argue, yes.
In "London", William Blake brings to light a city overrun by poverty and hardship. Blake discards the common, glorifying view of London and replaces it with his idea of truth. London is nothing more but a city strapped by harsh economic times where Royalty and other venues of power have allowed morality and goodness to deteriorate so that suffering and poverty are all that exist. It is with the use of three distinct metaphors; "mind-forg'd manacles", "blackning Church", and "Marriage hearse", that Blake conveys the idea of a city that suffers from physical and psychological imprisonment, social oppression, and an unraveling moral society.
Blake had an uncanny ability to use his work to illustrate the unpleasant and often painful realities around him. His poetry consistently embodies an attitude of revolt against the abuse of class and power that appears guided by a unique brand of spirituality. His spiritual beliefs reached outside the boundaries of religious elites loyal to the monarchy. “He was inspired by dissident religious ideas rooted in the thinking of the most radical opponents of the monarchy during the English Civil War “(E. P. Thompson). Concern with war and the blighting effects of the industrial revolution were displayed in much of his work.
The setting for this novel was a constantly shifting one. Taking place during what seems to be the Late Industrial Revolution and the high of the British Empire, the era is portrayed amongst influential Englishmen, the value of the pound, the presence of steamers, railroads, ferries, and a European globe.
To understand the role of international trading in the expanding of colonisation, Joseph Addison’s essay from The Spectator, “The Royal Exchange” (No. 69, 1711) is a very helpful text. The text simply describes a financial institution’s international composition. The first of the signs of a desire to dominate the trading world is seen here, starting with the words “my vanity as I am an Englishman” (Addison 2650). However, the rest of the sentence “to see so rich an Assembly of Countrymen and Foreigners consulting together upon the private Business of Mankind” softens the expression, and gives a sense of modern globalisation. The Spectator doesn’t seem to be leaning on the binaries found on the group of people in the Royal Exchange. Therefore while giving hints of the feeling of su...
As mentioned above, London's story will be looked at to further prove the significance of humanity in literary work. This piece unravels humanity and its faces through the eyes of a naturalist. Really the major
Jack London was born in the last quarter of the nineteenth century to Flora Wellman a great spiritualist and music teacher. It is believed by biographers that Jack’s father was an astrologer by the name William Chaney. The author in his great time novel ‘Martin Eden’ is reflected as a rough innumerate sailor who had a great urge to be educated in a bid to have himself fit well into the society of the literary elite. Through intensive self studying, he struggles to rise higher than his devoid conditions of being born among the working class, he does this in an attempt to book himself a coveted place among the affluent. According to the context, the protagonist does this mainly because of his relationship with one girl named Ruth Morse. The author shows it out clearly that ‘Martin Eden’ is in an intimate relationship with the girl, however the two, though in love, come from very wide social backgrounds. While the former comes from a bourgeois background, the latter hails from a working class background. It is therefore paramount that for the two to ...
The focus of everyday life in the Victorian Age gives an idea of what the people, in that particular time, had to deal with. Men and women alike walked the streets of London to complete their daily tasks set before them, “Hundreds of thousands of men and women drawn from all classes and ranks of society pack the streets of London” (Engels 1591). This kind of picture of everyday life shows us a realistic picture of Victorian London; it was crowded with people from all social lives. Although the Victorian Age did mention social class, it did not focus on it like the Romantic Period did. The Romantic Period tended to focus on the struggles of the poor, how they interacted with the rich, and how love, imagination, or determination overcame social class, as in “The Mortal Immortal”. In the realistic view of the Victorian Age, the poor stayed poor most of the time and did not socialize with the rich outsid...