21 pages • 42 minutes read
London
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake (1789)
“The Chimney Sweeper” appeared in two parts: The first part appeared in 1789 in Songs of Innocence, and the second part appeared in 1784 in Songs of Experience. The poem incorporates themes of child labor, a harsh English reality in the 18th and 19th centuries. During this time, boys of four and five years old were typically sold into the trade because of their small size, which allowed them to easily clean chimneys. Employers oppressed the children and kept them poorly clothed and fed. Most of the children died from becoming stuck in the chimneys or from lung damage. Blake’s poem criticizes the hypocrisy of the Church; while Church teachings contradict how society treats these children, the Church also does little to change the situation.
“Sonnet: On Being Cautioned Against Walking on an Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because it was Frequented by a Lunatic” by Charlotte Smith (1797)
Also known as “Sonnet LXX,” Charlotte Smith’s poem is an example of an early Romantic poem. The poem relies on imagery of the sea and of “madness” to express deep melancholy. (In the Western literary and philosophical tradition, the concept of “madness” has long been associated with artistic creativity and even genius—virtues that the Romantic poets revered.) Like Blake’s work, an engraving appeared with the poem. The engraving depicted a man and a woman standing on a high cliff as the wind blows. The poem is an English sonnet. It also contains allusions to Walpole’s gothic play The Mysterious Mother
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth (1807)
Scholars often group Blake with poets like William Wordsworth, one of the first Romantic poets. Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is commonly referred to as “Daffodils.” The poem recounts an event between Wordsworth and his sister. The two had taken a walk and encountered a long row of daffodils. The poem is still considered one of the most popular British poems and is often anthologized. Though the poem is now a classic of English poetry, critics at the time (including Lord Byron) deeply ridiculed Wordsworth’s collection. More recently, in an attempt to bring the poem to younger generations, the poem has been set to music.
Further Literary Resources
“The Revolutionary Vision of William Blake” by Thomas J. J. Altizer (2009)
This article explores Blake’s view about the Church and how the Church repressed the human body and separated God from creation. Altizer also highlights Blake’s views about how the Church oppressed imagination; Blake embraced the idea that the Church celebrated judgment rather than grace, so he centered his vision on Jesus, which separated him from Milton and Dante. The author also explores the role of religion in Blake’s engravings and their corresponding poems, as well as the role of Satan in Blake’s poems; Altizer asserts that Blake’s Satan is the embodiment of nothing.
“William Blake and the Human Abstract” by Robert F. Gleckner (1961)
In this article, literary critic Robert F. Gleckner explores the contradictions between the poems in Songs of Experiences and Songs of Innocence. The article also carefully explores humanity and divinity in Blake’s poems. Poems mentioned and explicated in the article are “A Divine Image,” “The Human Abstract,” and “Eternity.” Gleckner analyzes the stanza forms in Blake’s poetry and discusses how the various forms influence the voice and enhance the imagery within the poem. The author critiques the role of mutual fear and selfish love in response to the divinity depicted and experienced in Blake’s poems. To conclude the article, Gleckner also highlights Blake’s careful etching process, as well as how the etchings accompanying Blake’s poems influenced the reader’s interpretation of the poem.
“The French Revolution: Blake’s Epic Dialogue with Edmund Burke” by William Richey (1992)
In this article, William Richey examines the influence of the French Revolution and the politics that unfolded because of it in correlation to Blake’s poetry. The author also examines how writers like Blake, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas Paine attempted to counter the conservative voice of Edmund Burke, the leading conservative voice of the time. Richey examines the fundamental disputes about the true cause of the French Revolution. The author notes how Blake embraced the form of the epic to counter Burke’s conservatism and follows the precedent of Milton and Homer. Richey also explicates how the poem is a political commentary on Blake’s part.
Listen to Poem
English Sierra Leonean actor Idris Elba gives voice to Blake’s “London.”
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By William Blake
