london分析.doc

This is a poem which makes sense to the modern reader, as it exposes the gulf between those in power and the misery of poor people. The picture of the city as a place of nightmare is common in the 20th century, but is perhaps surprising to find in such an early text as this. Although there are several details which we need to note, we should begin with the central metaphor of this poem, the mind-forgd manacles of the second stanza. Once more a vivid symbol explains a deep human truth. The image of the forge appears in?The Tyger?(stanza 4). Here Blake imagines the mind as a forge where manacles are made. Manacles (for the hands - French?les mains) and shackles for the legs, would be seen on convicts, perhaps passing along the streets on their way to prison or, commonly in London in Blakes time, on their way to ships, for transportation to Australia. For Blake and his readers, the image is a very striking and contemporary one: they will have seen manacles and will view them with horror. A man of sharp perception, original thinking, exceptional boldness, contempt for reason, deep concern with the Revolution. A precursor of Romanticism in English poetry. An innovative poet and thinker (mystic). Strong opposition to rationalism and tyranny of all forms, emphasis on intuition and imagination. An undaunted revolutionary Blake’s poetry largely divided in to 2 groups: lyrical poems: “Poetical Sketches” (poetry of ages 12-20), “Songs of Innocence”, “Songs of Experience” prophetic poems: “Visions of the Daughters of Albion”, “America”, “The French Revolution” ,“Jerusalem”, “The Book of Los”, “The Book of Urizen”, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” The poem has four quatrains, with alternate lines rhyming. Iambic tetrameter, abab What do you know about the poem from the title? It is a poem about London, the city and people in London. What is the location of the poem, countryside or city? The speaker is not the piping, pastoral bard of the earlier poem: he is in the city. The