The Effects of Industrialization in William Blake's London
'London' by William Blake is one example of Blake's disapproval of changes that occurred in his lifetime. In his poem "London," from his work Songs of Experience, Blake describes the woes of the Industrial Revolution and the breaking of the common man's ties to the land, which he has brought upon himself. He describes the Thames River and the city streets as "chartered," or controlled by commercial interests; he refers to "mind-forged manacles"; he relates that every man's face contains "Marks of weakness, marks of woe"; and he discusses the "every cry of every Man" and "every Infant's cry of fear." He connects marriage and death by referring to a "marriage hearse" and describes it as "blighted with plague." He also talks about "the hapless Soldier's sigh" and the "youthful Harlot's curse" and describes "blackening Churches" and palaces running with blood. The poem has a simple rhyme scheme of: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GHGH, as each of the four stanzas in the poem rhyme within themselves.
"London,? like many of Blake's other works dealing with a similar theme, describes living in a society where the cost of living compared with income is steadily increasing, where new diseases are becoming increasingly common, and where the public is becoming ever more disillusioned about the reliability and trustworthiness of politicians. His works illustrate a nation that, due to the aforementioned problems, the rise of violent crime, and other considerations, is rapidly desensitizing itself to the "marks of weakness, marks of woe" and is becoming accustomed to seeing on the solemn and defeated faces of passers-by on the street.
In the first stanza, the narrator refers the str...
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... upon man by society, marriage is a sort of death in man?s ability to be free to do as he wishes.
?London? describes a world during and after the industrial revolution in which there have been many ill-fated side effects stemming from the rise of cities and of industry, as people move away from the traditional farming families and their beliefs. People no longer treat each other with kindness or as equals, instead they exploit each other for personal gain, selfish and unfeeling towards the consequences of their actions for other people. Also, new and potentially deadly diseases are becoming a major problem in the cities, and other illegal activities such as prostitution and crime in general are on the rise.
Works Cited:
Blake, William. "London." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. MH. Abrams et al. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2000
Fredericksburg lays approximately half way between Washington D.C. and the capital of the Confederacy Richmond Virginia. Burnsides plan called for departing Maryland and crossing the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, thus providing a straight shot towards Richmond, believing that this was the ultimate goal of his army. Lincoln favored this so-called covering approach to attackin...
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.
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.
The. Rpt. Jack London: Essays in Criticism. Ed. Ray Wilson.
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.
Current literature continues to reiterate the indicators of a major shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States. The total RN population has been increasing since 1980, which means that we have more RNs in this country than ever before (Nursing Shortage). Even though the RN population is increasing, it is growing at a much slower rate then when compared to the rate of growth of the U.S. population (Nursing Shortage). We are seeing less skilled nurses “at a time of an increasingly aging population with complex care needs and an increasingly complex technological care environment” (Mion). According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Health and Human Services, it is estimated that “more than a million new and replacement nurses will be needed over the next decade” (Diagnosis: Critical).
...en it comes to industry and capitalism. The “machine” of which Lawrence spoke in Lady Chatterley’s Lover has won the battle with nature, and we now live in a world driven by money, industry, and greed. So what can we do? I have come to the conclusion that the only logical course of action is to embrace the machine. If there will always be people who need things they do not have and people who have things they do not need, the only thing an individual can do is work as hard as they possibly can to ensure that they are in the former group. As Lawrence says, “Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take in tragically” (1). If an individual can put an end to this “refusal”, and accept the reality of the world in which he lives, he can put himself in a position to succeed, and ensure that he is not among the vulnerable when the iron curtain comes crashing down.
"The Effects of Alcohol on the Developing Brain." Women's Health Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. .
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.
First named and treated in the 1960’s, the condition results from the toxic effect of alcohol consumption and its chemical factors on a developing fetus. FAS is the leading cause of mental retardation in one out of every seven hundred fifty births. This number changes drastically if the mother is a heavy, habitual alcoholic, as high as twenty nine children out of every one thousand births. The ultimate sadness of this disease is that is one hundred percent
In effect, the permanent damage that alcohol leaves behind to the baby during conception and after birth is developmental disabilities. Prenatal alcohol exposure attacks the fetal brain structure and function causing FAS (Mattson, Schoenfled, & Riley, n.d.). Mothers who drink an unhealthy amount of alcohol during her pregnancy can hurt the baby’s corpus callosum, which is a significant part of the brain. The corpus callosum is the part of the brain that has a large amount of nerve fibers connecting each side of the hemisphere together, this allows for the right and left side of the brain to communicate with one another (Mattson, et.al., n.d.). People born with FAS’s corpus callosum is out of proportion and they struggle with reading, learning, and have deficits in attention (Mattson, et. al, n.d.). Individuals that are born with
The poems ‘lines composed on Westminster Bridge’ and ‘London’ are created by William Wordsworth and William Blake respectively. Wordsworth’s work originated in the eighteenth century and he himself lived in the countryside, and rarely visited large cities such as London. This is reflected on his poem, making it personal to his experience in London, however William Blake on the other hand had a vast knowledge of London and was actually a London poet, which allowed him to express his views of London from a Londoner’s point of view. I therefore will be examining comparisons in both poems, as well as their contrasting views of London and the poetic devices used to express their opinions.
Penfound, W.T. (May 1968). The Problems of Overpopulation. Bios ,39 (2), 56-62. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4606831 .
The sight of an angel made William Blake the most celebrated poet of his time, it influenced in his poems and painting, which it became gothic to people and made him a spiritual person. William Blake was born over his father hosiery shop at 28 Broad Street, Golden Square, London in Nov. 28,1757. His father was James Blake a hosier, and his mother Catherine Wright Armitage Blake. (Blakearchive.org) William Blake, being mostly educated at home learned how to read and write by his mother and later on went to school. His parents watch that he was different from others and they didn’t push him to attend to school, the main reason why his mother decided to instruct him. “They did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school.” Later on, Blake saw a positive thing after, writing “Thank God”… I never sent to school…”(Bloom, page 37) Apparently William Blake was a special boy, and a true believer of faith. When Blake was four years old, he told his parent he had experienced his first visions of God “His first vision occurred…when he was four. He saw God who “put his head to the window and set (Blake) screaming.” (Bloom, page 26) A couple years later, when Blake was nine years old, William claimed he had experienced new visions of angels. “ When Blake as a child told his mother “That he saw the Prophet Ezekiel under a Tree in the Fields.”” (Bloom page 26) Those visions changed William life. An age of ten William confesses to his parents that he wanted to be a painter. Later on, his father sent him to a drafting school. “At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school.” (Guterberg.org) Two years later William began c...