Blake’s poems Essay

In some of Blakes numberss gruelling feelings atomic number 18 expressed almost the clubhouse that he lives in.William Blake grew up as a conventionally religious person, but when his parents rejected the teachings of the church service he began to read the stories from the bible with a fresh sound judgement. Blake neer attended school and had a lonely fryhood. From the age of four Blades believed that idol was speaking to him. . From then on he had many visions of angels and other transcendental creatures.Blake was extremely happy when the French Revolution liberated the poor in France from aristocratic rule. save at the same time, Blake saw England being overtaken by a parrallelIndustrial Revolution. that was destroying the regionside with situationories, slums and waste.In this essay I will talk about the poesys capital of the United Kingdom, The lamp chimney sweeper, (from the Songs of Innocence) and Jerusalem.Blakes poetry capital of the United Kingdom talks ab out many things, much(prenominal) as, wealthy mickle having control and consumeing most things, such as property. We suffer meet this when Blake saysI wander thro each chartered street,near where the chartered Thames does flow.By this Blake gist that there are privileges for the great unwashed but yet if you are rich. Chartered is referring to a document that gave people rights and privileges in indemnity for money or support. Here Blake means full of privilege but only if you had the money to pay for it. Blake disagreed with the idea that if you were wealthy you had a right to privileges but if you were poor you had no rights.Blake creates industrial-strength personas in the mind of the reader by telling us about shocking events. We dope nab this when Blake saysThe hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood d protest palace wallsThis is referring to soldiers being brought in at the time of the Industrial Revolution to stop the poor rebelling .We are given a pictorial image of blood running down a wall after state of wards someone has been shot by a soldier. The excogitate blood cutifies to us the idea of guilt and in this case the soldier creates an image of violence. Also the soldier may non want to follow orders and fire on helpless people but gos he may be shot himself if he disobeys.Blake uses contractions that condense an idea, forming vivid and powerful connections. sometimes he uses a hyphen, and at other times he simply juxtaposes two spoken communication to leap out the reader. We can capture this in the eventually descent of capital of the United KingdomAnd blights with plagues the marriage hearse.with the record books marriage hearse These words shock the reader because the two words bring up different and opposite images, one mirthful and the other sad. The word marriage means the joining together of two people to start a new life together, whilst a hearse is a carriage or car used to carry you in your coffin to your grave. The p hrase marriage hearse could be formula that marriage is what leads you to your death. In this case because the harlots curse, syphilis and or V.D.,caught by the groom ,from visiting the prostitutes that Blake talks about in his phone call can kill the new bride and any children they have. This could in addition show that Blake was opposed to the idea of marriage which was another(prenominal) form of his rebellion against the churches teachings. Blake much chooses to repeat a word for added ferocity. It is typical of Blake that the chosen word often has more than one meaning. This chuck up the sponges Blake to express more than one idea at a time. An example of this is when Blake uses the word mark three times on different epithelial ducts.A mark in both prospect I meet,Marks of weakness, marks of woe.The introductory time Blake mentions the word mark it could mean a sign maybe of poverty or struggle however the heartbeat time mark is mentioned it means a sign of weakness , such as drunkenness. The last time mark is used it is referring to a scar, a wound. This adds emphasis to Blakes point because the reader has to have in mind about each meaning to understand the line. It could be argued that Blake was move to say that the people of London were affablely affected by the horrors of industrialisation. Blake uses grammatically unusual phrases such as the phrasemind forged manaclesin his poetrys. This may be because Blake wishes to create a stronger or terra incognita image. This is very effective because as with the word mark it creates a very strong image of mental anguish for the people of London This may be saying that the effects of living in a largely populated industrial area are bad for you and causes people to suffer restrictions caused by their own minds and thoughts. Hence the phrasemind forged manacles.The poem is telling us that the chains that hold us are mental chains. Chains of our own making chaining our own set freedom of imagin ationIn London Blake uses changes in rhythm to draw attention to certain lines. (Especially in compose two) An example of this is when the pace of the last line of each verse slows down, thus drawing attention to it.In every cry of every manIn every infantss cry of fear,In every voice, in every ban,The mind -forged manacles I hearWe can overtake that this is also often the same with the order of the verses. The last verse has a slower pace than the other verses. There is an example of this change in rhythm in the start of the fourth verse when Blake starts with the word But.But most, through midnight streets I hearHow the late harlots curseBlasts the new -born infantss tear,And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.The use of the word But implies that the former verses were bad But if the last point (child prostitution) was rectified then a lot of things would improve.In the poem The Chimney Sweeper Blake is telling us about child exploitation in large industrial cities such as London. Through focusing on the plight of chimney intersects. In it he is critisizing society, the church, the parents who allow their children to be used as slave labour and the employers who exploit them.In the poem London Blake was the observer. However in the poem The Chimney Sweeper Blake speaks through the voice of a child. ) This is extremely effective because of the childs naivety and belief that if he is hot everything will be alright. tom, the child Blake speaks through believes this because, in a dream or vision he has, an angel tells him thatif hed be a good boy,Hed have God for his father,and never want joy..This could be saying that if Tom is good and continues to do as he is told (cleaning chimneys) then he will die and have God for his Father. This could also be irony from Blake by putting the teachings of the church in the voice of a child and telling us that only in the afterlife will he be happy. We know Blake felt that this teaching from the church encourag ed the exploitation of the young, the poor and the vunerable.The rhythm of the poem suits its content and pop the question because it is in the form of a nursery rhyme. For example, the last word of each verse rhymes with the last word of the line before.When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongueCould barely cry Weep weep weep weepSo your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.This emphasises the honour of the child saying the poem because it relates to childhood fun which the young chimney sweep never experienced. In The Chimney Sweeper Blake creates multi faceted images through his use of similes. We can see this when Blake says coffins of black. This can mean two things, the first being that the young chimney sweeps will end up in one of the black coffins because their job will lead to their death, or it could also mean that the children are in the chimney which is dark and black and which will kill them. A double meaning in a phrase is typic ally used by Blake to get more than one of his ideas across. Blake uses an interesting structural gizmo at the start of the poem The Chimney Sweeper this is the word SO. At the end of the first verse the word SO is put in front of the lineSo your chimneys I sweep.This may be putting blame onto the reader however it is more handlely to be societys guilt for allowing it to hap indite. However, in the last verse So is used in the last line in the phraseSo if all do their duty.This is blaming society, the Church, parents and the owners of the children. This is because the poem says that if everybody did their duty they would step in to stop the chimney sweepers pain. So is also a structural device because after the evidence against society and the Church is shown So seems to condemn them.Blake uses colour to create symbolic contrast in this poem, this is kept going throughout. The colours are white and black. White is used when Blake is talking about artlessness, helplessness and y outh. We can see this when the young chimney sweep Tom comforts the other child who has had his lead shaved sothe soot cannot spoil your white hairThis is one of many things that show the innocence of a child being destroyed purely for the duties of chimney sweeping. Blake tends to use the words black and soot whenever he is referring to something which is wrong. As when coffins are mentioned, creating the phrasecoffins of black.Blake also shows the reader, through a dream or vision, how life should be for the children. This vision creates a strong contrast that emphasises the cruel reality of their lives. We can see this when Tom has a dream or vision, as Blake did as a child, of his friends being set free by an angel and being taken to a better and sunlit place. Instead of a dream being used to describe what Tom sees, the word sight is used. This may be telling us this is the way things should be instead of it only being a childs dream of happiness. In the vision there is an ange l who tells Tomif hed be a good boy, hed have God for his father,and never want joy.This could be Blake criticizing the Church for saying you can only be happy and have a good life in heaven when you are dead. Blake employs the same tequnique of unusual combinations of words in The Chimney Sweeper as he did in the poem London. This may be because Blake was still trying to get similar points across to the public. In London there are phrases, such as,marriage hearse,Words that do not usually go together. We see the same thing in The Chimney Sweeper when Toms friend cries when he has his spike shaved and his headcurled like a lambThis is a simile and creates the image of a small defenceless lamb in pain. The lamb could also be a symbol of innocence and sacrifice, telling us that tithe chimney sweeps are being sacrificed for the benefit of society who want their chimneys kept swept and dont care how this is done or who suffers.The poem Jerusalem is the last of Blakes poems I will be lo oking at. Today Jerusalem is often perceived as a patriotic song but its true message goes much deeper than many people realize. In this poem Blake talks mainly about one thing .This is Industrialisation .Blake does this by continuously referring to when England was a pleasant land. The poem Jerusalem has been set to music, which means that the mood is different to London and The Chimney Sweeper. The questions back.And did those feet in ancient timeWalk upon Englandss mountains green?whitethorn be a reference to the legend that Joseph of Arithamea had once brought Jesus to England. This may be a parable to say that Jesuss spirit lives on in England.Blake uses questions to invite the reader to recall Englands past. This is a rhetorical device used to draw the reader s interest into the poem. We can see this when Blake saysAnd was Jerusalem builded hereAmoung these dark satanic mills?This could be saying that England was once beautiful and had set apart meaning (like the town Jerusa lem) but now is just an industrialized piece of land. The word satanic means, like Satan or a thing in hell. This gives the image of England once being a good place but now it resembles hell.Blake uses imperatives to show the force of his feelings. We can see this when at the start of the second verse the wordsBring meare used to start the next four lines.Bring me my give in of burning goldBring me my arrows of desireBring me my spear O clouds, unfoldBring me my transport of fireThis adds a sense of urgency to the poem as if we must hurry to return our country England to its former better state.Blake describes modern industrialisation in dark terms in the last line of the second verse.Among these dark satanic mills?There are two words that create a sense of evil, dark and satanic. The word mills are used as a symbol of Englands industrialisation.The power of Blakes feeling is expressed through his own personal readiness to take up arms, literally and metaphorically to defeat evil and restore his country to its former glory. We can see this in the forth verse when Blake says heWill not cease from mental fight,Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.This could mean that Blake intends to keep writing poems to change peoples minds about England, to convince them to return England to the country it once was. Blake has a utopian vision of England. The word sword creates an image of a entitle fighting, so, this may be suggesting the necessity of a physical fight. However this may also be referring to the saying his tongues razor sharp which means that Blake would continue to write poems in the belief that the pen is mightier than the sword.The first four lines of the third verse suggest war since they each have weapons in them. These lines also have a mythical feel to them. Blake may see himself as a knight or hero who has come to help save England , but , as with Jesus, in Jerusalem he has not come as what people expect, because words are his weapons not swords.In al l three poems Blake conveys strong feelings about his society. He writes about the misery of poverty, the exploitation of the young and the helpless, the start of industrialisation and the consequences of sexual sin. In all three poems there are strong themes such as , child exploitation, in The Chimney Sweeper, Poverty in London and industrialisation in Jerusalem With the poem Jerusalem it could be said that it is ironic that a poem that says England is messed up is sung as a patriotic song which says I am proud to be English .It could be argued that London is the most important poem out of the three discussed since it talked about the problems of Blake s time and the same problems still exist today such as poverty, exploitation of the helpless and prostitution.London is my favourite poem as it mirrors modern day London. The fact that we still have the same problems within society that Blake saw proves that times have not very changed very much .The wealthy still have the most pow er and in addition to the problems racism, and refugees, fleeing war and death in their own countries . I Blake saw we now have drugs destroying peoples lives, AIDS, think Blake would feel sorrow that all these years later there is still a huge catchment area between the classes. However he would be pleased that there is now education for everybody and working conditions, at least in this country, have improved. So maybe his poems did inspire people to question the justice of their own thoughts and actions.