How does Blake present a troubled city in his poem London? In the poem ‘London’ by William Blake he uses a first person narrative, this makes the poem appear more personal, it is also written in the present tense which creates immediacy and gives the illusion that it is happening now. In the first line where he says ‘each charter’d street’ the word charter’d is repeated in the second line when he describes the Thames, the use of this shows that London is a city bound by law and there is a lack of freedom, the Thames is a natural river which cannot be changed, Blake is saying that he isn’t free and neither is the Thames this is a juxtaposition. Blake uses repetition again in this stanza with the word ‘marks’ the first is used as a verb. ‘Marks of weakness, marks of woe’ Blake uses marks as an abstract noun to describe the sadness of the people that he meets and also as a concrete noun to describe the physical cuts and scars.
How has T. S. Eliot utilised specific elements of his form to engage varying audiences intellectually and emotionally? T.S. Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ and ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ explore the self-consciousness caused by the intense pessimism of a toxic urban world, which leads to passivity and a lack of agency. Eliot uses varying elements of the form of poetry to present the major concepts of his modernist context, the conflict between the individual and society, disempowerment and time and the ritualistic nature of life, which also allow him to intellectually and emotionally engage a present day audience. Eliot portrays life as tarnished through urban decay, which is typical of the modernist era.
Good afternoon yr 11 and teachers There are many perspectives of the Australian landscape in today’s society from different cultures and ages and media. Perspectives and attitudes of the Australian landscape are highly subjective and influenced by our personal experiences; this is evident in two poems I have been studying in class; Oodgeroo’s Noonuccal’s Municipal Gum and Kenneth Slessor’s William Street. Both of these poets have used their personal experiences and influence’s to portray the city environment as they see it. These poems provide contrasting Perspectives on The Australian Landscape. In Municipal Gum Noonuccal gives a negative perspective of the city by describing the gum tree ‘’gum tree in the city street hard bitumen around your feet’’.
19 May 2011 Explication of Theodore Roethke’s “Root Cellar” A popular theme of a variety of art and media, life and death are often focused on individually. In the poem “Root Cellar,” Theodore Roethke creates a vivid depiction of life fighting for survival. To give a sense of the struggle life is facing, the poet uses a vocabulary that conveys a sense of unease and degradation. Perhaps drawing on his upbringing, Roethke shows a contrast of existence amidst backdrop of downtrodden cellar in the throes of decay, giving readers an insight into the intrinsic power of life’s resilient capabilities. The poem opens with heavy imagery to show the difficulty that one would expect life to have surviving in a root cellar.
Both “The Prelude” by William Wordsworth and “London” By William Blake” convey strong ideas and feelings about a place. Blake’s poem is most subjective about the city, contrary to the title. The reader would think that the title “London” is objective and unbiased; however Blake’s condemnation of the city is apparent from the start of the poem. On a simple level, the poem is a description of the misery Blake sees as he “wanders” around London. On a deeper level however, he is criticizing not only the condition of the city itself, but the monarchy and government who oppress it.
The disrupted focus is intriguing as it creates more creativity to the close-up shot of the Esky. I like this photograph as it reminds me of summer and its fun. Cathleen Tarrawhiti I like this photograph because of how it reminds me of the times playing in fountains in the city. Also because of the
Bradbury’s dystopic representation of the urban environment can be seen as a result of his mid twentieth century American context. Bradbury suggests that cities are antithetical to community and socialisation, and compares the lack of social activity to death. He writes, “The tombs, ill-lit by the television light, where the people sat like the dead, the grey of multi-coloured lights touching their faces, but never really touching them”. Bradbury’s use of the words with undesirable connotations such as ‘tombs, dead, grey’ position readers to view the city and also technology negatively. He explores the impact that technology has made on the zeitgeist of society, specifically the lack of connection
Identity is constituted by our external and internal self. Our identity is formed by both our view on ourselves - what we see in the mirror - and how society perceives us – how we act in accordance with our surrounding environment. Les Murray’s poem ‘An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow’, written in 1969, explores the concept of both the identity of the individual and of a collective group through the actions and reflections of a crying man and city society. Murray accentuates how city society reacts to the simple act of expressing emotion – they simply watch, fearfully. The individual is used by Murray to represent that which is common, emotion, and the beauty which it contains.
MIGRANT HOSTEL A tone of instability and insecurity is set within the first stanza where the accumulation of the nouns “comings and goings”, “arrivals” and “sudden departures” suggests a sense of chaos and highlights the lack of stability within the poet's life. The use of enjambment of “wondering/ who would be coming next” allows the emphasis to fall heavily on “who”, illustrating the transient nature of the hostel environment and putting emphasis on the uncertainty of who is to arrive next. This constant change becomes unsettling and prevents the poet from finding a place of belonging and further hindering his self-identity, leaving him lost and confused. The physical and emotional divisions set up by different nationalities is further
The readers know that in Homer the mariners continue with their journey but Tennyson opts to explore the mariners’ state when they are drawn to a life away from labor and responsibilities. Tennyson is more interested in the static moment without action, in the state of trance and immobility of the mariners. Tennyson’s poetry evokes the sense of place, his poetry articulates sensations. Rather than communicating a reflection of thought, Tennyson’s poetry evokes a moment of heightened perception. He uses an imaginary landscape to convey a state of mind.