9. A comparison between Blake's view of London and
Wordsworth's one:
Similarities: both poet described the city of LOndon at the time of industrialization. They
both include the rive THames in their description. They both perceived teh city through
the senses of sight and hearing and used personification.
Differences: Wordswoth associated big cities with noise and smoke, and loved the
countryside. In the early 19th century, however, London still retained a partially rural
atmosphere. Most of the city occupied the northern bank of the Thames and was and was
as the poet records, "Opne unto fields, and to the sky" on the southern bank of the river.
Although Worsdworth praises the majesty of the scene, he sees no people and makes the
point that the xity is smokeless, silent and asleep. So he sees it opistively only when the
population is not engaged in their work. Worsdworth's negative attitude can be deduced by
this absence.
TEXT 2:
Blake describes London at night. The city is ugly, in the hands of traders and full of
suffering. Unlike Wordsworth's London, it is crowded with people of all kind, from chimney-
sweepers to soldiers to prostitutes. These are all victims of industrialisation and
institutions. Even the THames is imprisoned and cannot flow freely as in Worsdworth's
poem. The poet's attitude is anguished and bitter, and there is a direct attack on
industrialisation and rationalisation.
