Compare and Contrast London by William Blake and Island Man by Grace Nichols Essay

Comp atomic number 18 and Contrast capital of the United Kingdom by William Blake and Island Man by deck Nichols. Consider How Each Poem Conveys election Attitudes To Life And Society.IntroductionThe verse capital of the United Kingdom written by William Blake (1757 1827) is a clever meter. Although we can appreciate it, and register William Blakes themes, it was non understood or valued when it was written exclusively those years ago. In pedigree the numbers Island Man written by saving grace Nichols is a contemporary poem. The single idea that brings these devil poems together is that they be both more or less the urban center of capital of the United Kingdom. Island Man is in linguistic process that we understand to twenty-four hours, Blakes poem uses the English language of the eighteenth century.Brief Historical BackgroundWilliam Blake was born in a district of London called Westminister on the 28th November 1757. His obvious artistic talent lead his draper scr am to enter him into Pars Drawing School in the strand. This lead on to him later beingness apprenticed to James Basire, an engraver who worked for the Royal Society of Antiquaries. He married Catherine Boucher in the August of 1972 when he became a freelance engraver. Blake was an accomplished artist in existencey areas, not only did he write novels and poems, he was also interested politics and religion but he could paint and engrave to a actually high standard. Blake was introduced by Joseph Johnson to other radical commemorateers of the day including Mary Wollst anecraft, William Godwin, Joseph Priestley and Thomas Paine. In his books such as The French Revolution 1791, and America A Prophecy 1793.He developed his attitude of revolt against authority, compounding political belief and visionary ecstasy. The political situation of the time was such that some of his work was printed anomalously because he feared government persecution. In 1800 Blake moved to Felpham where he b egan work on his epic poem, Milton and Jerusalem. In these poems Blake reveals his brotherly criticism combined with prophecy and biblical legend. In 1803 Blake was charged with high treason on the testimony of a drunken soldier named John Scofield fortunately he was acquitted and moved back to London. Blake died in obscurity in 1827 and was buried in an unmarked grave at Bunhill Fields.The poem London is seemingly drawn from Blakes own experiences of the London in which he lived. He dictum London for the hell hole that it was through the look of a man that seemed to feel all the poverty and degradation of bothday emotional state that ordinary people understood. His ghostlike beliefs embraced Unitarianism a genuinely simplistic form of Christian worship which was in direct confrontation to the Church of England and all its values. This sensitive artistic man saw all the horrific abuses in society, and this poem was his way of making people confront the problems. Even though he did not have a tooth root to the problems, he wanted people to face up to the problems and try to work together to make their society a better place.Main Criticism of LondonTitleBlake chose the simple title London to engage his readers interest about their capital city. London was the heart of the country, the city of government. It was a type of fountain and majesty. As the reader would examine the poem besides they would realise how ambiguous the title really was. Blake was preparing the reader for a powerful poem, but the power of the poem was in showing the reader how sordid their beloved city really was.Type of PoemThis poem is warning the social unit of Londons population just how hideous the real face of the city was. Blake was behaving like a prophet advising that people should fundamentally change their way of life. Runs in kin down Palace walls is a caution to people in authority that if they continued on their course of closing their eyes to the poor and the con ditions in which they lived, what had happened in France namely the Revolution and the slaughter of the Monarchy making France a republic would happen in Britain. The theme of constraint and social control runs through the whole of the poem. flock could not choose how they lived their lives.Subject of Poem & Its TreatmentThe subject of Blakes work includes the exploitation of people and their eventual corruption in every conjectural part of society. How the youthful Harlots curse. Blake explains here that these young people had no choice but to resort to prostitution. Society corrupted them and they whence in turn became sinful and corrupted.VoiceThe poem is written through the eyes of one person, but this person wants you to experience all the oppression and social injustice that is all around. This person has strong beliefs and is prepared to stand up and speak out for those who are less fortunate than himself. I wander thro begins the poem and so sets the reader on their own ain journey through the disgraceful city of London.Mood & ToneA desperate and anticipateless clime runs through the whole of this poem, it is negative and offers no solution to the terrible torment that the people suffer. And mark in every face I meet label of weakness marks of sufferingfulness. Blake makes no secret of the fact that he sees misery, illness and oppression in every individual that he meets.Form & StructureThe coordinate of this poem consists of four stanzas each of which contains four lines, this is known as a quatrain. Blake chose this arrangement to reflect the idea of control and authority with great effect. The monotonous body structure of this poem reflects the way in which life is played out. This poem is very much like a ballad in that it tells a story of a walk through London and the terrible suspirets to be seen. Blake shows his genius in the third stanza when every first garner of the line spells the cry hear, this being the last word of the secon d stanza. This technique is known as an acrostic, and is usually used in romantic poems, however in this case the poet uses this skill to accent the message of the poem, being that society must listen to his warning of approaching doom.RhymeThe rhyme scheme of this poem is ABAB. It is regular and gives a experience of control. The fibber is obviously sure of his ideas and completely confident in the knowledge that he holds the moral high ground.RhythmThe rhythm of this poem reflects the rhyming scheme in that it is very controlled in order to make the poets point of view quite clear. There is a continued steady beat, which seems to reiterate the poets ideas.imaginativenessImagery features throughout this poem from beginning to end. Feelings and ideas are evoked by Blakes particular choice of language. Every blackning Church appals. How can the reader not fail to appreciate the distressing nature of this poem when this line is read. A Church should be a place of God, holy and pure . This Church was black, which suggested unholyness, and ungodliness. The blackness underlines the feelings of despair and helplessness A Church should be welcoming, it should not repel people.The blackness of the Church businesss deeply with the red of the blood that runs down Palace walls. The blood is an two-bagger of the violence that is all around. A very strong image is The mind-forgd manacles I hear. Obviously the peoples positions were being controlled they had no liberty of thought. The image of the physical manacle is powerful when it is used in the context of peoples minds and thoughts being constrained. And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. We see in this image the finale of marriage and the death of family values, marriage is under threat. Married men were known to visit prostitutes.In this final line galore(postnominal) ideas are represented, one would not expect the word hearse which represents death and the ceremony of a funeral in the same line as the word Marriage which represents life and the ceremony of a wedding. The word plague in this line conjures up the idea that it is inevitable that society will fall apart, it is inescapable, and the very fabric of society was rotten. Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In this line thoughts of oppression appear on individuals faces. It is noticeable that social injustice has made them weary and downtrodden. The word mark is used to convey two different meanings, firstly how he notices these people, and secondly the physical marks of oppression on the peoples faces.LanguageThe poet chooses the words he uses very carefully to invoke very specific ideas. Plague is a word associated with suffering and helplessness. Woe is used to convey feelings of distress and oppression. Runs in blood makes us think of violence and the atrociousness of life. Harlots curse shows us the negative side of the sordid life in which they lived. These words appear throughout the poem, powerfully showing the idea s Blake feels is his responsibleness to share with society.TechniquesIn every and cry are repeated. This is to get the point across very forcefully. The effect of the terrible conditions in which people lived stretched across the whole of society. Cry in this context shows their fear, they are not screaming, they are experiencing internal agony. The full spectrum of people were marked. Blake is quite revolutionary in the line In every Cry of every Man. He uses the word Man to mean every ordinary man, they were important. Alliteration is used to great effect in the phrase Soldiers sigh. The words are bound together intensifying the feeling of the desperation that these royal servants felt. In the line Marks of weakness, marks of woe the alliteration strengthens the repetition technique. How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear.This is an example of enjambment, the rhythm and thought are continued from one line to the other and is reflective of the flow of the Thames that runs through London. Runs in blood is a very powerful metaphor, the idea of oppression is cleverly communicated through this technique. Mind-forgd manacles is used to illustrate just how oppressed people felt not only in body but also in spirit. The poem starts with the personal pronoun I. The poet wants us to understand that he has strong personal beliefs contained within this poem. He is prepared to stand by these beliefs and try to make the reader understand his views on society and social justice. Blake puts the words Man, Chimney-sweep, Church, Soldier and Palace in capital letters. Here he is emphasising the importance of every surgical incision of society, and how each word symbolises every section of that particular status.SensesThe poet appeals to our sense of sight and sound in his poem. In stanza one the sense appealed to is visual talking about the river Thames and the streets of London full of business activity. Blake concentrates on the physical surrounding s. One stanza is in direct contrast to the other. The word cry is repeated several times, this together with Soldiers sigh gives the reader an understanding of the pitiful sounds that surrounded the poet as he journeyed through London. The poet wants us to listen to everything he says, he emphasises this in the third stanza with the first letter of every line spells the word hear. Our sense of sight cannot help but be engaged by Every blackning Church. Black is a colour associated with evil and bad happenings.TensesThe poem was written in the present tense. All the sights and sounds he experiences are happening now and need to be turn to immediately. Society needs to examine itself and change. Punctuation is used by the poet to control the rhythm and the pace. The commas are used to list the many problems that are witnessed In every voice, in every ban. The poet also uses other techniques of punctuation such as a colon in the line Every blackning Church appals. This is to narrate between two different subjects being the Church and the Monarchy, it is to make clear who he is accusing of being hypercritical and who he is accusing of being violent.The do on the ReaderThe effects on the reader are quite profound, we are left reflecting and investigateing what is really going on in society. Blake hoped his poem would make a difference and reach people who could make society a happier and fairer place to live. He offers no solution towards the end of the poem, but hopes that others would think about the problems that he sees and make some effort towards change for the better.Brief Historical BackgroundGrace Nichols was born in Gorge Town, Guyana in 1950. She grew up in a small coastal village and moved to the city when she was 8 years old. As a child she lived through the countries struggle for independence. She has worked as a teacher and a journalist and has a strong interest in Guyanese folk tales. Grace arrived in Britain at the age of 17, livery with her t he warmth of her Caribbean sensibility. Her poems celebrate sensuality and generosity, and attack petty mean-spiritedness. She has won many awards and prizes and is especially noted for her contribution to childrens literature.The poet spent her informative years in the Caribbean and so sees London in a different perspective from someone who has lived at that place all their lives. Grace Nichols also has a completely different ethnical background to someone who has been brought up in London.Main Criticism of Island ManTitleThe title represents solitude and isolation, an island represents a place of escape and provokes feelings of a vivid environment. Man is universal it is anon. and could mean any single man. We see here the similarities with Blakes poem London in that his poem is from the perspective of an anonymous man.Type of PoemThe poem is about a man who has a dream about a beautiful island, he would love this island to be his reality, however his reality is Another London d ay. The theme of pleasant solitude and peaceful isolation runs through this poem. There is a free lifestyle and a sense of liberty that combined with naturalness makes this poem easily readable. The poems are both come to with the reality of London life. They maybe set at different times, but they both set in the same city and both are dissatisfied with London life.Subject of Poem & Its TreatmentThe subject of Grace Nichols poem is the wonderful quality of life on an island compared to the dull lifestyle of contemporary London. More than half the poem is taken up with the description of the island, we wonder therefore if the poet would rather be on the island than in London. The poet has experienced two different ways of life and seems to prefer the island life. In Blakes poem however, Blake doesnt seem to have experienced another way of life, his poem just concentrates on the appalling conditions f London.VoiceThis poem is written through the eyes of one person. This person wants you to understand just what its like to live on a beautiful island and then come back to the dull reality of their life as it is now.Mood & ToneThe mood of this poem is one of longing. The poet wants to escape into her fantasy of island life. The fantasy is in stark contrast to her life now. Her sense of hope emerges when she describes the island breaking and wombing is a phrase that reflects on nature and natural happenings, it gives hope. Despair seems to return when she describes London. The sadness appears in the poem when the dream ends, and he wakes up to reality, island man heaves himself he is weary before the day even begins. This is in stark contrast to Blakes poem where desperation and hopelessness for everybody runs through the poem. In Grace Nichols poem, island man feels sorry for himself because he hasnt got the quality of life he wants.Form & StructureThe structure of this poem is haphazard it is obscure and has no particular form. It is purposefully freestyle and r eflects a modern poem. The distinct irregularity and variety of each line length is planned. It reflects island life which isnt planned. This is in distinct contrast to Blakes poem which is in the form of a quatrain.RhymeThe part of the poem that deals with island life has no rhyme, however when we come back to London in the third stanza we see one rhyme soar and roar. This suggests that there is some structure and control to reality of city life. These words have an bellicose violent sound, they seem to symbolise the aggressive life of London. This is a contrast with Blakes poem which has a rhyme scheme of ABAB which helps him to convey a sense of controlled aggression throughout his poem.RhythmThe rhythm of this poem reflects the poets thoughts. A dream follows no set pattern, and neither does this poem. This contrasts with Blakes poem which is very controlled and obviously not a dream but a living nightmare.ImageryImagery features throughout the poem. Feelings and ideas are evok ed by Grace Nichols particular choice of language. Morning this is the first line of the poem, just one word. Morning conjures up images of a hopeful start to the beginning of a new day there might be new opportunities in the new day ahead. Wombing is a word that invokes feelings of a safe environment. He is surrounded by the sound of dismal surf and is in a womb of his own making. Feelings of the continuing cycle of life are reflected by the use of this word. Wild seabirds is written again on its own line to emphasise the importance of nature, they were completely free. However nature worked in harmony with inhabitants of this island, fishermen were a fond computer storage of island man. The poet highlights the fact that the lie rises in the east the sun is a symbol of life giving and newness, the light of a new day. The east symbolises an area of beauty and mystical ideas. many religions pray facing east, this is a very positive idea. His small emerald island. Emeralds are very precious gems, they are beautiful and unique like the island to the island man. The island is his treasure, his to own, he belongs there. The memory of his island enables him to exist in the realities of city life. His frequent dreams and thoughts always bring him back to where he believes he really belongs. When the poem comes back to reality the images are of greyness metallic sands, these are not natural. We are reminded of the grey and dismal polluted streets of London. It was not a natural environment. The use of the word north has connotations of coldness and harshness. The North Circular is a road that the inhabitants of London travel around, it is a controlled motorway and symbolises the hectic pace of city life. A circular road around the city makes the reader think that island man is now in a life that he cant get out of.In Grace Nicholss poem there are many images of nature, quite unlike Blakes poem where even the river Thames is exploited and controlled. The seabirds were wild they were completely free, quite unlike Blakes poem where there were mind-forgd manacles. In Blakes poem there is no escape from the realities of life, of the helplessness and despair that surrounded him. In Grace Nicholss poem she has an escape, she escapes into her dreams.LanguageGrace Nichols uses the language of today. She uses modern words such as groggily and muffling. Blake would have had no idea what these words would have meant. She uses words to contrast ideas such as the east representing island life and the north representing London life. Grace Nichols is not as detailed or aggressive as Blake but they do have the same attitude to London life. Blue surf represents island life whilst grey metallic represents London life. The whole of Blakes poem consists of negative language over half of Grace Nicholss poem, the part that deals with island life consists of positive language.TechniquesGrace Nichols uses the repetition of the word groggily to move from one part of the poem to the other, it is a turning point it separates island life from reality. Island man does not want to leave the island, it is an unpleasant experience in which the island man is confused. Repetition is again used in Muffling muffling to emphasise the fact that although his dream was clear, real life is confusing. Blake also uses a repetition technique, but he uses it to convey his ideas. An example of alliteration in Grace Nicholss poem is sun surfacing. This paints a picture in the readers mind of the sun rising over the water, a very powerful image of island life. Blake again uses alliteration in the same way to evoke effective images. Enjambment is used to great effect, the poem is at random with irregular lines to reflect the randomness of a dream and the confusion felt well awaking. Blakes poem also has thoughts running from one line to the other.The poem Island Man is written in the third person, it communicates a sense of detachment and could well be someone elses experience, there must be many people in London who are away from home and feel a sense of isolation even tough they are surrounded by hoards of people. In comparison Blakes poem was written in the first person making London a more personal poem. The same senses are evident in both poems, each of the poems only deal with sight and sound, but are treated in different ways. The poem Island Man sights and sounds are linked sound of blue surf gives the reader an idyllic image of a perfect island beach. In the poem London the whole of the first stanza is concerned with sight and the whole of the second stanza is concerned with sound.TensesThe poem Island Man is written in the present tense in modern-day London. In comparison the poem London although also written in the present tense is concerned with 18th century London.PunctuationGrace Nicholss technique of using suddenly no punctuation what so ever is very effective, it communicates the idea of freedom and a dream like state. There ar e no rules in this poem, thought continues from one line to the other. His crumpled pillow waves island man heaves himself. This is in direct contrast to Blakes poem which is ruled by punctuation. The poem has either a comma, full stop or colon.Effect on the ReaderIsland Man in the first half of the poem is very bright and satisfied and shows a very natural and free way of life, which every reader could identify me with and would hope to aspire to. The second part of the poem deals with the reality of London life again, which many people can identify with. In contrast Blakes poem London is a very gloomy poem all the way through.