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Compare Blake And William Wordsworth

Decent Essays

London is a city of many faces. Through the writing of these two famed authors, William Blake and William Wordsworth, they both manage to effectively illustrate the two very different views on London. Blake shows us the dark and twisted side of London facing poverty and oppression, while Wordsworth highlights the bright, peaceful, and beautiful aspects of London. The two poets write their contrasting views by using tones, imagery, and senses; can open the reader's eyes to change and how quickly it can happen.

The two authors have very different ways of expressing their own views on London. While Blake may use crude language to describe his experience, Wordsworth makes the city appear so pleasant and warm. When Wordsworth writes about London, he describes it as a beautiful, charming place that is clear and peaceful; Like when he writes “All bright and glittering in the smokeless air” (8) he describes the air as a bright place that isn’t polluted with the factories and mess. Unlike Wordsworth, Blake describes London as a dark dirty place filled with desperation and fear. For example, when Blake writes “In every cry of every man” (5) he tells the reader about the people of London who are crying for help in the painful, tear-jerking city of London; due to the fact that this was written in a time of the industrial revolution when children were forced into labor, and families were torn apart with work and couldn’t provide. The world in which Blake was experiencing was a sad and desperate time, unlike Wordsworth. Despite the constant contrast of language and descriptives, they are both still talking about the same city.

When reading the work of Blake and Wordsworth, they both beautifully paint this picture in the reader’s mind that contradict each other drastically. Wordsworth acknowledges the silent beauty of London, while Blake highlights the dirty, enslaved London. Blake describes London in a way that makes you think it’s this dirty, sad, gloomy place where even the churches and palaces are in danger and facing danger. “Every blackening church appalls...Runs in blood down palace walls” (10,12), He is explaining to us that even the buildings in most power were faced with disgrace. On the other hand, Wordsworth

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