Hello everyone.

Thank you for joining me in today's lesson on analysing the poem, "London".

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

By the end of today's lesson, you would've analysed the presentation of power and conflict in Blake's "London".

Remember, power and conflict are those big ideas in all of the poems from the Power and Conflict Anthology.

They are the ideas that we should link all of our analysis and exploration of the poem "London" to.

Let's go through our key terms for today.

The first one is quatrains.

A quatrain is a stanza of four lines.

And remember, a stanza is like a section or paragraph of poetry.

We don't call it a paragraph in poetry, we call it a stanza.

So again, a quatrain is a stanza of four lines.

Iambic tetrameter.

Iambic tetrameter is a line of poetry which includes four beats of one unstressed syllable, followed by a second stressed syllable.

We'll have a look at what that looks like when we read the poem, "London".

Dramatic monologue.

A dramatic monologue is a poem written in the form of speech of an individual character.

So a dramatic monologue is set up as one person talking out loud.

Juxtaposition, Juxtaposition is when two different things are placed together for contrasting effect.

Again, we'll have a look at an example of juxtaposition when we read the poem "London".

And lastly, disillusioned.

Disillusioned is when you experience disappointment and lost faith over something once regarded as good.

And we are going to see how William Blake shows his disillusionment with 18th century "London" in his poem "London".

I'll give you a moment to jot down any of those keywords that you may wish to now.

Pause video and make a note.

In the first section of the lesson, we'll look at literary methods in "London".

We'll have a look at some of the language Blake uses as well as the form and structure.

In the second learning cycle, we are going to explore power and conflict, those big ideas in the poem "London", and explore exactly how they're presented.

So let's start off with looking at the literary methods in "London".

Open your anthology to the poem "London" and consider the following questions.

You can think about this in your head or you can talk about it with the person next to you.

But consider these five questions now.

How many stanzas are there in the poem? What do you notice about the length of each stanza? What do you notice about the rhyme scheme throughout the poem? How many syllables are there in most lines of the poem? And I want you to then summarise the structure of the poem in one word.

Pause video and answer those questions.

Great job.

Let's look at some of those answers then.

How many stanzas are there in the poem "London".

Let's start reading the poem to find out exactly how many sanders there are.

"I wonder through each chartered street near where the chartered Thames flow and mark, in every face I meet marks of weakness, marks of woe." Now that's the first stanza "In every cry of every man, in every infant's cry of fear, in every voice, in every band the mind-forged manacles I hear." that is the second stanza, "How the chimney sweepers cry every blackening church appals and the hapless soldier's side runs in blood down palace walls." That is the third stanza.

And finally, "But most through midnight streets I hear how the youthful harlots curse blast the newborn infants tear and blights with plagues the marriage hearse." That is the fourth and final stanza.

So there are four stanzas in the poem "London", and each stanza has four lines.

Therefore there are four quatrains in the poem.

Remember, a quatrain is a stanza with four lines.

Since each stanza has four lines, that means there are four quatrains in this poem.

Let's take a look at the rhyme scheme now.

Remember, we need to give each line a letter indicating its rhymed pattern.

So for the first line, "I wonder through each chartered street", I'm giving that an A.

That's the first line.

"Near where the chartered Thames does flow." Now we need to think about if flow rhymes of street.

Of course it doesn't.

So we give the second line B "And mark in every face I meet".

Meet and street rhyme.

Therefore, meat gets an a much like the first line.

"And marks of weakness, marks of woe." Woe and flow definitely rhyme.

So therefore, the fourth line of that stanza is signified with a B.

Let's carry on mapping the rhyme scheme.

In the second stanza, we start from A again because this is a brand new stanza.

So man is A, fear is B, ban is A again, and here is B.

So the rhyme scheme of this poem is A, B, A, B.

It's quite rigid.

In fact, it follows that the whole way through, each stanza is A, B, A, B.

We'll discuss the significance of that in a moment.

How many syllables are there in most lines? As I clap, I want you to count how many syllables you hear in each line.

I wander through each chart'd streets.

That is eight syllables.

Near where the chartered Thames does flow.

Again, eight syllables.

And mark, in every face I meet, that is eight syllables, marks of weakness, marks of woe.

And that is seven syllables.

Let's continue mapping the syllables for the last stanza.

Eight, seven, seven, eight.

So based on this, we know that most lines in this poem contain eight syllables.

They are also written in iambic tetrameter.

Now, iambic tetrameter is when there are eight syllables in each line.

The first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed.

Let's see if we can map that now.

So I is unstressed.

One is stress, duh is unstressed.

Three is stressed, each is unstressed.

Char is stressed.

Tered is unstressed.

And street is stressed.

So we'd read it sort of like this.

I wander through each charted street.

That's iambic tetrameter.

Now, of course iambic tetrameter is when there are four pairs of syllables.

Each pair contains the unstressed and stressed.

That means if a line has seven syllables, it breaks the iambic tetrameter up because there cannot be four pairs in a line that only has seven syllables.

We'll think about the significance of that later.

Now for our last question, if you were to summarise the structure of this poem in one word, you may have said, predictable, rigid or repetitive.

This is because the rhyme scheme is very predictable.

The lines contain a similar number of syllables and also each stanza is the same length.

Now, perhaps Blake wanted a rigid, predictable, and repetitive structure to his poem to reflect some of the messages he had about 18th century London.

I want to check your understanding now.

What is true of the rhyme scheme in "London"? Is it unpredictable? Is it rigid or is it arranged in rhyming couplets, pause video and think about that question now.

well done if you said the true statement on the screen here is that the rhyme scheme of "London" is rigid.

It is not unpredictable.

Unpredictable would mean that it's impossible to guess what rhyme pattern will come up.

But the ABAB rhyme scheme allows us to predict the pattern in "London" very easily.

And lastly, "London" is not arranged in rhyming couplets, rhyming couplets are when two lines next to each other rhyme.

But of course we know that in "London" it's A B, A, B.

So therefore we can say the only true statement on the screen is that the rhyme scheme in "London" is rigid, and we know that because it's ABAB all the way through.

The next question, check your understanding is what is true of each line in the poem "London"? Pause the video and have a think now.

Most lines in "London" are written in iambic tetrameter with occasional breaks.

We cannot say they are all written in iambic tetrameter because some of the lines have seven syllables and therefore also we cannot say they all have eight syllables either.

Most of the lines in "London" are written in iambic tetrameter with occasional breaks.

And as I said, we are going to be looking at why Blake might break the iambic tetrameter later in the lesson.

I now want you to create a response analysing some of the structural features we've just discussed.

You are going to write a paragraph in response to the question, how does Blake use repetitive language and rigid structure to present oppression? So these are the things that you need to discuss in your answer.

You need to comment on the four quatrains, the rhyme scheme, the predictable iambic tetrameter and the seven repetitions of the word "Every" throughout the poem.

So essentially what you are looking at here is thinking about why Blake chose this structure and why he chose to repeat some words and how that may have helped him emphasise his ideas about how oppressive "London" was.

So you need to be linking the predictable, repetitive and rigid structure of "London" to this idea of oppression.

There's a challenge for you on the screen, if you want to challenge yourself, write about what Blake may have been advocating for or supporting when he breaks the iambic tetrameter.

That is a really tricky question.

I hope you'll attempt it.

So pause the video and write your paragraph now.

Let's go through Jun's answer to the question.

Jun said, through his use of rigid structures, for example, rhyme scheme and quatrains, Blake mirrors the oppression and lack of freezing of the citizens of London.

He's clearly trying to show how deeply rooted oppression is in society and how it feels like an endless cycle through the use of repetition and iambic tetrameter since the pattern is predictable.

Jun then says, I don't understand why he breaks the iambic tetrameter.

This seems to contradict his message.

So overall then, Jun approached that writing task confidently, but he struggled with the challenge.

Let's try and help Jun understand why Blake breaks the iambic tetrameter.

Discuss now, why might Blake have broken his rigid use of iambic tetrameter.

If the rigid use of iambic tetrameter itself represents oppression and lack of freedom, Why does Blake break this pattern? Pause the video and discuss.

There's an idea here on the screen for you.

Blake's breaking of iambic tetrameter may show his hope for dissent or revolution within the people that would free them from the oppressive society.

So as we said, the rigid structure of the poem, including the predictable iambic tetrameter represents oppression and lack of freedom.

If Blake breaks this pattern, this may be symbolic of his hope that the people would break the cycle of oppression.

Jun says, thank you.

He now sees how Blake's disruption of the iambic tetrameter could reflect how he wanted people to disrupt the status quo to question authority figures and free themselves from their mind forged manacles.

Jun cleverly says this links, Jun cleverly identifies that this relates much to the French revolution.

Remember, William Blake was sympathetic of the French Revolution and we could see "London", we could see the poem "London" as providing support for a similar kind of revolution in England.

Now let's move on to looking at the big ideas of power and conflict in the poem "London".

The poem "London" is written in a dramatic monologue that is the form of the poem.

Blake uses a first person speaker who is wandering through their daily life to emphasise the reality of the situation they are describing.

So the person in poem "London" could be any civilian, could be any citizen of 18th century London.

And perhaps Blake does this to show that for every single person in London, this is what they experienced.

So by using dramatic monologue and a first person speaker, this allows Blake's social commentary to be accessible to all he felt.

The messages in "London" were important for everyone to hear.

I now want you to discuss what do you think Blake's messages were about power in "London"? Pause the video and discuss that now.

You may have said that Blake's message is a criticism of powerful institutions such as the church, monarchy and government.

He suggests that they are oppressive and cause suffering.

He also blames them for the corruption of the innocent.

Blake's message could be that society ought to be more equal or that those in power should use their positions for the good of humanity.

Let's check your understanding of what we've just discussed.

The poem "London" is written in the form of a sonnet, a dramatic monologue or a ballad.

Pause video and answer that question now.

Well done.

If you said the poem "London" is written in the form of a dramatic monologue, we said that the perm "London" is spoken by a first person narrator and they could be an ordinary citizen of 18th century "London" and therefore the perm is written in a dramatic monologue form.

It features one person speaking out loud.

Why might Blake have used the dramatic monologue form to build tension, to reveal secrets or to make his message accessible for all? Pause the video and have a think now.

Blake may have used the dramatic monologue form to make his message accessible for all.

If Blake uses a first person narrator that could be an ordinary citizen for his poem "London", that means he's making his message able to be understood by everyone in society.

If he used a form that was perhaps a bit too complicated, he may have run the risk of people not understanding his message.

So we've spoken a little bit about Blake's message about powerful institutions.

Now we're gonna speak about conflict.

Conflict is also a big part of the Perm "London".

I want you to discuss which things may be in conflict.

In his poem, I'm going to show several quotes from the poem, and it's your job to discuss which things may be in conflict.

In each quote, I want you to think about each quote literally and symbolically.

So let's begin with, "Youthful harlot's curse, blast the newborn infant's tear and blights the marriage hearse." I've highlighted some sections of that quote to help you.

So pause the video and discuss which things may be in conflict.

In this quote, prostitution is in conflict with marriage as infidelity threatens the sanctity of marriage.

According to Blake, natural human desire and marriage are also incompatible.

So remember, the prevalence of prostitution in the 18th century, to Blake, reflected how marriage and religion repressed people's natural human desire and emotion.

So Blake is perhaps saying, for as long as marriage is around, prostitution will also be around.

"Charter'd Thames".

Discuss what may be in conflict in this quote.

Pause video the and talk to your partner.

In this quote, human control conflicts with nature, which ought to be free flowing and untouched according to romantics.

So remember, the river Thames represents nature and the word chartered is trying to show that the river Thames was privately owned.

Blake would've very much disagreed with this control of nature.

The next quote, "The hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls." Discuss what's in conflict in that quote.

Off you go.

In this quote, innocent civilians are in conflict with the monarchy or government who advocate for causes that kill them.

"Mind forge'd manacles".

This is a bit more tricky, but do your best.

Pause a video and discuss how is conflict shown here? People are a mental conflict as on one hand they want to be free, but on the other hand, they perpetuate their own oppression.

We see that in the quote because manacles represent restriction and oppression and mind forged means that people create the oppression and restriction in their own mind through the things they believe in.

Let's check your understanding of what we've talked about.

Which of the following types of conflict does Blake not explore in the poem "London"? Pause video and have a think.

In the poem "London", Blake does not explore religion versus science.

Blake does explore powerful institutions versus ordinary people.

We see that through the monarchy and the soldiers and the church and the chimney sweeper.

He also explores corruption versus innocence.

We see that through children being exploited perhaps by the powerful institutions.

And we also see nature versus man in that quote, "Charter'd Thames".

Now I want you to complete the table to show how "London" presents the big ideas surrounding power and conflict.

So in this table you have quotes on the left.

methods in the middle and your analysis of how each quote and method links the big ideas in the last column.

Some have been done for you.

Pause video and complete the analysis table now.

Let's go through some ideas and I want you to add any ideas you missed to your table.

So for charter'd street and charter'd Thames, the method here is repetition.

The repetition shows the extent of the restriction and control that the powerful exerts even over nature.

Let's link this to the big ideas.

Here, Blake criticises human control over nature, especially that of the wealthy.

He seems disillusioned with how oppressed "London" is.

Remember, you can link this to Blake being a romantic poet, he would have greatly admired and respected nature and he would've been appalled and again disillusioned, with how people were trying to control nature.

Mind forged manacles.

"Mind forged manacles." That quote includes metaphorical language, and this metaphorical language shows how citizens are mentally trapped and oppressed perhaps by beliefs that are imposed on them by those in authority.

For example, the concepts of religion and marriage may be imposed on these citizens.

How that links to the big ideas, people may be oppressed, but they have the power to emancipate themselves.

If oppression is all in the mind, that means people can get rid of it as well.

So Blake here may be alluding to the French Revolution and how citizens actually have more power than they think.

"How the chimney sweepers cry, every blackening church appals." Here, Blake has used symbolism.

The church symbolises religion and blackening symbolises corruption.

Here Blake suggests religious institutions abuse their power as they do not help the innocent.

They become corrupted and tainted by their complicity in child labour.

The final quote, "How the youthful harlot's curse blasts the newborn infant's tear." There is juxtaposition in this quote of innocence and experience.

The innocence is reflected by the infant and the experience is represented by the harlot.

Here, there is conflict between innocence and experience.

Blake laments how innocents are born into a corrupt world and an endless cycle of oppression.

Remember, Blake would've been very aware that society's ills are what causes prostitution in the first place.

For example, widespread poverty in 18th century London would have forced a lot of girls into prostitution in the first place.

So Blake is saying that these babies are born into a world when nothing is changing, nothing's getting better, and people seem to not do anything about it.

Let's go through what we've learned today then.

The rigid structure of four quatrains written in octosyllabic lines mirrors the idea that people have no freedom in the city.

Blake conveys his social commentary through the dramatic monologue of a first person narrator.

Blake uses repetition in the poem to show how deeply rooted the social issues that he describes are.

Blake uses juxtaposition to illustrate how easily innocence is lost in the city.

And Blake uses metaphors in symbolism to highlight the effects of the inaction of leaders and powerful institutions on the vulnerable.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

Well done for tackling some really complex ideas.

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.