How London Relates to the Romantic Age.
"London" by William Blake is a good example of romantic poem from the Romantic Age. It relates to romantics almost immediately, with references to the emotions of man, how he cries, the breaking of the common man, and the descriptions of the time period overall in the poem. .
The emotions of man are cited when Blake refers to "In every cry of every man" and "In every infants cry of fear." Blake combined the crying of every man and the baby with the observation that the people's hopes and dreams are shattered or oppressed and will never come true.
The breaking of the common man in this poem is relevant to the Romantic Age as Blake describes every man's face containing "Marks of weakness, marks of woe" and also the cries of every man and "every infants cry of fear." Blake describes a man's marriage and death as "blighted with plague." This same meaning of weakness in a man is also pointed out when Blake talks about a hapless soldier. "And the hapless Soldier's sigh, runs in blood down Palace walls" is a statement that has a sense of irritation in it, a sense of disrespect toward the British Solders. It also gives the reader a gory image of blood running down the palace wall. This shows how unfortunate the common man felt at this time. William Blake was a common man at this time as he grew up during this age, but he found a way to manage his time by writing.
William Blake grew up in the Romantic Era. It was a period of change. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution all happened during his lifetime. The speaker in the poem describes both the Thames and the city streets as "chartered." The word chartered reveals that the pure nature of the city is no longer visible because of the commercial interests of London. Blake relates the Romantic Era to "London" very well as he described the whole city in one word. It is also necessary to note that the events during the Romantic Era such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution inspired William Blake to write "London" because he liked politics.
