Lesson Objective:

1. Lesson Objective: To examine varying impressions of London and London life.

2. Is…. What adjectives would you use to describe London and London life?

3. London • Look at the images of Blake’s London and modern London on your table. • What are the differences and similarities? • How would a modern writer depict London?

4. Representing London Discuss the different ways in which modern London could be represented by a writer nowadays. • A financial centre • A place of power • A place of vice • The seat of government • An exciting place

5. What does this picture say about London in 18th century? Hogarth’s ‘Gin Alley’

6. What does this picture say about London in 18th century? Poverty Lawlessness Immoral behaviour Drunkenness ?

7. What does this picture say about London in 18th century? Hogarth’s ‘Gin Alley’

8. The skeleton man shows ………. ………………………… …………………………. about life in London.

9. Using the information we have deduced from the two paintings, write a paragraph describing what London and London life was like during the 18th century. Consider: • Poverty • Illness/disease • Employment • Crime • Death • People’s behaviour

10. Lesson Objective: To analyse how Blake’s choice of language shows his attitude towards London.

11. Blake’s London • Read about the London in which Blake lived… • True or false • 1. Blake’s family home was built on the site of an old burial ground. • 2. The terrible stench was caused by the workhouse. • 3. The abattoir was famous for its female butchers. • 4. The Parish of St James was entirely disagreeable. • 5. Piccadilly was known for its china shops and fruit shops. • 6. The heads of the condemned rotted at Temple Bar. • 7. Scavengers and nightmen haunted Oxford Street.

13. Exploring fragments • Discuss the following extracts and annotate with ideas and questions about the possible meanings and significance of the words:

14. Charter’d street Chartered: • Written grant • Written acceptance of rights or granting of privileges • Written statement of rights • Contracted, hired • ‘Every charter’d town is an aristocratical monopoly in itself’ Tom Paine, a radical thinker and writer of Blake’s time

15. blights and plagues

16. Marriage hearse

17. marks of weakness

18. charter’d Thames

19. Mind-forg’d manacles • We are all victims of other’s ideologies Or • We succumb willingly to restraints placed on us by others and become victims of our own exploitation.

20. every cry of every man

21. midnight streets

22. I wander through each ………………….. street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of …………………, marks of …………… In every cry of every man, In every infant’s cry of ……… In every …………., in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear. How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every …………... church appalls; And the …………. soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down palace walls. But most through ………. streets I hear How the youthful harlot’s curse ……….. the newborn infant’s tear, And blights with …………. the marriage hearse. ‘London’ By William Blake

23. I wander through each ………………….. street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of …………………, marks of …………… In every cry of every man, In every infant’s cry of ……… In every …………., in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear. How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every …………... church appalls; And the …………. soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down palace walls. But most through ………. streets I hear How the youthful harlot’s curse ……….. the newborn infant’s tear, And blights with …………. the marriage hearse. ‘London’ By William Blake weakness blasts hapless woe chartered fear plagues blackening midnight voice

24. Themes and issues, attitudes and values • How does William Blake present London? • What themes and issues does he explore in relation to the city? • What do his attitudes to these seem to be? • What philosophical values underpin his thinking?

25. Language • What patterns of imagery do you notice? What significance do these have? • One can’t help but notice the repetition in this poem. What is it doing? • Which words do you find the most striking? Why? Explore their connotations and connections. • What is significant about the nature of the words? Are they complex or simple, abstract or concrete? What about their syllabic length? Their degree of formality? • What aspects of 18th century society might be symbolised by the chimney sweeper, the harlot, and the soldier? Think about the age, gender, class and role of these individuals. • What significance might there be in the choice of title and the repeated reference to the river Thames? Consider what role in the world the city had in the 18th century. • Consider the aural impact of the poem. How are alliteration, assonance, and the sounds of words utilised by Blake? What impact do they have on mood or meaning?

26. Structure • Line 8 is the centre of a 16 line poem. How significant is this to an appreciation of Blake’s poem? • What relationship do the first seven lines have to the eighth? How do the following eight develop its ideas? How does this structure influence the impact or meaning of the poem?

27. Form • Consider the persona and the situation. Some critics have suggested that the detachment, objectivity and omniscience of the persona are so extreme that the poem’s voice must be that of a ghost. To what extent do you agree? Does this perspective make any difference to your understanding of the poem’s meaning? • Consider the poetic form. What patterns of rhyme and rhythm does Blake use? How do these relate to the poem’s mood(s) and/or ideas?

28. Interpreting London • Read the poem again and consider the following questions: • Who or what is the subject of the poem? • What themes or ideas are being explored? • What is it’s tone? • What is the attitude of the speaker? • How does it connect to other poems?

29. Features of language • Double meanings: charter’d, marked, banns, forg’d • Auditory power: cries, voices • Visual power: narrator sees and notices terrible things and visions: churches dripping in darkness, palaces soaked in blood. • Focus on poor and suffering: soldiers and harlots, emblems of victims of fate cut off from a more natural life • Oppositions: coupling of opposites e.g lines 15/16 and marriage and syphilis. • Extended complex images: ‘Every blackening Church appalls’ • Narrator as ‘wandering’ observer.

30. Features of meaning • An indictment of injustice • Highlights the connections and interrelations between things such as deprivation leading to soldiers warmongering. • Rejection of the ‘system’ and its reliance on science, reason and moral law. • A poem of despair?

31. A critical approach • Read the critical response by Jon Cook. This combines context with close language analysis. • Highlight any useful sections