A Brief Analysis on William Blake

张莉　尚彦飞

【Abstract】William Blake （1757-1827） is a renowned British poet in the 18th century. His lyric poems display the characteristics of romantic spirit， and he is regarded as the forefather of the British Romanticism. His London is a well-known lyric poetry， which is thought to be the best vesicle in the West. This paper will analyse this poem in terms of its form， theme， and image and then draw a brief conclusion for the characteristics of William Blake's poem.

【Key words】William Blake； theme； image； form； characteristics

1.Introduction

William Blake， who is the most independent and the most original poet of all the romantic poet of the eighteenth century. His main works contain Song of Innocence， Poetical Sketches and Song of Experience， this poem taken from “the Songs of Experience”， which mainly wrote about the hardship and sadness of common people. In this poem， Blake wanders through the streets of London and comments on his observations. He sees despair in the faces of the people he meets and hears fear and repression in their voices.

2. Analysis on London's Form

This poem is famous for highly strong musical pattern. Generally speaking， this poem is written with a metrical pattern of iambic tetrameter， but they are changed acquired by the special purposes， such as the emphasis of the meaning. In the first two stanzas， the metrical pattern is very neat： iambic tetrameter， except one line， i.e. the last line of the first stanza. In this line， the poet uses one monosyllabic foot to emphasize the “masks of weakness and woe” of people left on every face. Because the monosyllabic foot can slow up the tempo， so that the effect of emphasis can be shown by it. The last stanza is most important， so the metrical pattern changes a little bit. The first and the fourth lines are iambic tetrameter， and the second and third lines are turned into the one monosyllabic foot and iambic tetrameter. In order to show the deep sorrow of people， the poet changes the first syllables of the second and third lines into the stressed ones， which give the lines more powerful movement. Therefore the power and intensity are achieved.

In this poem， Blake uses many powerful devices to enhance the expression of the theme. The poet uses these kinds of repetition for special purpose. In the first stanza. There is something awkward in the repetition of the word “mark”. The first “mark” is a verb. The second and the last are nouns. So there are two complex effects： the observer ” marks”， but he marks”marks”. Blake reinforces the effect of being dragged into an imprisoned world. Where nothing reveals from the faces he meets， but weakness and woe. In the second stanza， the poet even uses” every” for five times， showing that no one can escape from the miserable and tragic reality. The repetition of “cry”，” cry of every man”，” infants cry of fear”，” the chimney sweepers cry” and even “the helpless soldiers sigh”， emphasize how the people in London suffered at that time.

3. Analysis on London's Theme and Image

London mainly portrays the scene of one night on a London street in the 18th century. Its theme bases on people's censure to the evil of capitalism. In the first verse， the word "chartered" is repeated to imply the monopolization of capitalism and capitalists. In London， not only the streets， but also the Thames which should have flown freely is occupied by the capitalists. The second verse portrays the universal harm and damage capitalism have brought to the society. The manacles tells that peoples minds are manacled， which echoes last verse in which we know that workers have lost their body.

The third verse shows that children were also engaged as workers. Since the chimneys of churches were too narrow， chimney sweeping is often done by children； even they are only four or five years old. They should have lived a happy and free child-hood， while now， they are robbed of this right and everyday they work in the dirty chimneys， tiredly and dangerously. What a piti-ful scene！

All in all， the damages and harm brought by the industry culture and capitalism to the society are tremendous and dangerous. The adults are dead though they are still alive while the children are dead since they have lost the innocence they should have. The marriage which should implies new life becomes the symbol of death means that the society are stepping to perdition.

4. Conclusion

From the analysis before， we can conclude that， images means not simply the portrait of a scene， but a kind of literary instrument which gives more symbolic meaning. A great poet should combine image and content together perfectly and naturally. Until now， people are still do researches on Blake and his poem. However， in research， people should also take his background and style into account and finally discover poet's deep sense before the simple words.

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