Romantic Poetry Compared - Essay Example

Romantic Poetry Compared London during the late 1700s was a bustling of confusion and commercial enterprise, reacting to the upheavals of the French Revolution and the rising merchant middle class. It is difficult to look back from the modern perspective and gain an understanding of how these changes might have appeared to the people who lived through them. However, by carefully reading through some of the literature produced in that era, it is possible to gain a glimpse of their impressions regarding these changes. While some considered the changes to be positive signs of a prosperous and growing England, with an exciting increase in worldly importance, others viewed the bustling city in a much more negative light, in which individuals became lost members of a crowd and social ills became much more apparent. These aspects of the city can be traced through the poetry of William Blake in poems such as “London” from Songs of Experience and William Wordsworth as it is reflected in book seven of his Prelude. In “London” for example, Blake describes the way in which the human spirit had been shackled in 1794, the year when the poem had been written. Through careful imagery, Blake expresses an abiding belief in the unchristian nature of the restrictions on freedoms being experienced by the British people. The French Revolution had just occurred and sentiment in Britain had reached an all-time low as expressed in lines such as “How the chimney-sweepers cry” (9) and “… the hapless Soldiers sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls” (11-12). These lines reflect the way in which even time-honored occupations such as chimney sweeps and soldiers had fallen into disrespect and despair. Although he is describing physical situations in lines 3-4: “A mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe”, he makes it clear that he is also discussing the state of the souls of people he meets. The signs of decay and desperation are seen in every face encountered as the speaker walks down what is presumed to be an average London street. This is reinforced in the second stanza as the speaker says, “In every cry of every man, / In every infant’s cry of fear, / In every voice, in every ban, / The mind-forged manacles I hear” (4-8). In this, it is apparent that someone is controlling these people, although it remains unclear if the ‘mind-forged manacles’ are of their own creation or someone else’s. However, because of the inclusion of infants, who cannot possibly be imposing harsh punishments on themselves as well as the mention of bans, which are posted laws, it is indicated that the hardships being experienced are imposed from a higher source, such as the government. This is again reinforced in the third stanza when the speaker indicates that the decay of the city has reached even as far as the churches: “How the chimney-sweepers cry / Every blackening church appals” (9-10) and the city’s defenses as “the hapless soldier[‘s]” sigh is made visible as it “runs in blood down palace-walls” (12). Throughout the poem, then, although no specific mention is made of issues affecting the people, the affects are nevertheless made clear. Something is not working in London and is having a significant negative effect upon the inhabitants. Unlike many poets of his time, or even of modern times, Blake freely utilized illustrations in the presentation of his poems, including “London”, as a means of communicating their meaning to those individuals who might not be able to understand the written words. The idea that even thoughts are chained and controlled in this new London is echoed in the illustrations Blake has selected to accompany the poem. In them, an old man robed in the blue of purity is seen stooped, dejected, defeated and walking only with the aid of a cane. This man has become so entrapped in the rules and regulations not only of his own government, but also within the shackles of his own mind, that he is prevented from crying out or perhaps even seeing the effects of what has been created. This is suggested by the idea that although the man’s eyes are open, he is led by a small child as they move down an empty street. They are going nowhere and coming from nowhere, seemingly forgotten and doomed to wander for eternity in search of dignity. The overall impression thus conveyed is that of someone completely helpless to fend for himself in any way, just as Blake envisioned the people of Britain under the yoke of oppression they were suffering at the hands of both government and religion. The red walls of the street behind these two figures provides a subtle imagery of the British soldiers’ and, by extension, the rest of the British population’s plight as the blood runs down them unheeded, unnoticed and unappreciated. The other illustration on the plate is that of a human figure hunched up to a bonfire, feeding it the next book in line. The smoke obscures the sky as well as the progress of the old man and the child mentioned above even as the enlightened words and art of the country are destroyed in the flames. More than simply obscuring the sky, the smoke also removes Blake’s words from the view of the man feeding the flames, completely removing him from any knowledge, responsibility or consciousness of his actions as he undertakes the task of burning the books of the country. Although there is light and hope along the left-hand margin expressed in a soft yellow wash, even this fades as it moves across the page to the bonfire. Even this small amount of hope for the future is blocked from the figure at the fire by the dense smoke. Although the old man and the child are part of a different panel, the sharp contrast between the dark shadows of the street behind the old man and the fact that he is being led away from the yellow light and hope, symbolizing the enlightening nature of Blake’s version of Christianity, and toward even more shadow and the smoke of the bonfire indicate Blake’s vision that the absence of books, knowledge, freedom of speech and so on would only lead to another period of darkness and despair for London. A similar sense of disillusion can be found in Wordsworth’s Prelude, particularly in book seven, lines 696-741. Although the book describes Wordsworth’s experiences of Bartholomew Fair, these lines focus more narrowly upon his impressions of the city in general from his Nature-influenced and withdrawn perspective. “Of what the mighty City is itself / To all except a Straggler here and there, / To the whole swarm of its inhabitants” (696-698) is how he describes the people he encounters indicating a single-image mentality imbuing the minds below. The concept of the single mind is highlighted further as Wordsworth describes the people as “The slaves unrespited of low pursuits / Living amid the same perpetual flow / Of trivial objects, melted and reduced / To one identity” (700-703). Not only do these people have no free will, as indicated by the choice of the word ‘slaves’, they also have no sense of value, constantly chasing after things that don’t matter and that all represent the same end result, one common identity. The idea that these pursuits are valueless is underscored with his qualification that these “have no law, no meaning, and no end” (704). This image conjures up, especially to an individual as intimately familiar with nature as Wordsworth was himself, impressions of beehives, anthills and other pesky, swarming insects that do little to ease a person’s comfort or to highlight the unique nature of the self. In this sense, the city and the people in it has become “an undistinguishable world to men” (699), further separating the concept of the individual from the hive. While this swarm is at home in the crazy, monstrous bustling of city life, the individual thinking man has difficulty making sense of it. Despite his own presence here, Wordsworth indicates that in the London he experiences, there is no room for a man such as himself to remain individually disconnected from the group. Although he mentions there is “a Straggler here and there” (697) among the crowd, the term selected does not necessarily relieve the recipient of inclusion in the general swarm. Instead, the use of the word ‘straggler’ indicates that while a few tend to stand out from the crowd in some respect, they nevertheless remain caught up in the crowd mentality and have lost the sense of self that resides so strongly within Wordsworth. This is not necessarily their choice or design, nor does it indicate a lack of mental faculties, rather Wordsworth tends to see it as the inevitable result of living in such constrained conditions. “Oppression under which even highest minds / Must labour, whence the strongest are not free” (705-706). The image that emerges, then, of London in general is of a hive of mindless activity with no purpose, no end and no promise in which thinking minds, creativity and innovation cannot possibly thrive. Unlike Blake, though, Wordsworth seems to find a way out of this morass of humanity in the power that Nature has instilled in him. “But though the picture weary out the eye, / By nature of an unmanageable sight, / It is not wholly so to him who looks / In steadiness” (707-710). By standing back and taking an objective viewpoint, not becoming a part of the crowd at all, Wordsworth indicates that one can gain the sense of self that seems to be completely lacking in the humanity of the city because of the ability to see not only the individual parts as they mill around below, but also of the whole design, which becomes liberating in much the same way that he has found in nature. Looking upon the city in this way, Wordsworth says, “The Spirit of Nature was upon me here; / The Soul of Beauty and enduring life / Was present as a habit, and diffused, / Through meager lines and colours, and the press / Of self-destroying, transitory things / Composure and ennobling Harmony” (734-740). While this sense of harmony was not available to the population in general, Wordsworth himself was able to find a sense of peace, beauty and design by separating himself from the general press and allowing himself to simply observe. While both poems indicate a general sense of dismay within the city of London at the time that they wrote their poems, the character of this darkness was subtly different in both the way it was experienced as well as the way in which it affected the poet. Blake saw the city as a decaying entity, having known it at its brighter moments. Walking among the people, he experienced their despair and hopelessness firsthand and felt a part of it. His illustrations served to support his impressions and provide them with additional weight as the knowledge and enlightened creativity the city had once known went up in smoke beneath the eyes of the blind man. Wordsworth, on the other hand, had only one impression of London and that of a bustling city full of nothingness and purposelessness. It is only through a detached viewpoint that today’s reader is able to see the city in his work and it is only through this view that Wordsworth seems willing to identify. What Blake recognizes is a political and social upheaval and depression, Wordsworth views as a permanent condition. He cannot feel a part of this desolation or mindless shuffling and can only find a sense of equilibrium when he tries to view it from the perspective of Nature. Creativity and thought do not have a place in this world, according to both poets, but while Blake sees it as intentionally being burned out of the minds of the people, Wordsworth sees it as never having existed in the first place, or simply drowned out by the general press whenever it tries to surface. References Blake, William. (1996). “London.” Favorite Works of William Blake: Three Full-Color Books. New York: Dover Publications. Wordsworth, William. (2000). The Major Works Including the Prelude. Stephen Gill (Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More