'London' by William Blake

Hey for the poem 'London' by William Blake does anyone know what the meter is?! I can't work out whether it is iambic or trochaic (I know much of his poetry is written in trochaic) and pentaneter or tetrameter?! Please help . . . thanks!!

Reply 1

LizzyLizzy

Ummm , i think i have this written in my blake poetry book somewhere. but thats at home and i'm at college. I tell you what. Send me a PM to remind me and i'll try and send one back with the answer today . xxx

Reply 2

Mrs Rickman

iambic pentameter i think.

Reply 3

Freeway

tetrameter is four feet and pentameter is five feet (if that helps at all!)

Reply 4

OppressedMass

I think its tetrameter...

I can never think of anything relevent to say about meter though... :confused:

Reply 5

lskdgjsj

Judging by the first stanza I'd say it's trochaic tetrameter.

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
A mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

Reply 6

Da Bachtopus

svidrigailov

Judging by the first stanza I'd say it's trochaic tetrameter.

The metre changes throughout the poem, though all lines contain four feet (tetrameter).

The predominant metre of the first stanza is actually iambic tetrameter. l.1-3 are perfectly regular examples of this. Line 4, however, is trochaic, and only contains seven syllables: the final unstressed syllable has been dropped, known as 'catalexis'.

I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

The second stanza (not quoted) is all iambic tetrameter. The third stanza takes the metre of l.4, i.e. trochaic tetrameter, but with final syllable dropped:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.

The final stanza mixes both metres used so far. The first and last lines are iambic, the middle two trochaic.

But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

All rhymes in the poem are masculine (on a stressed syllables) since the trochaic lines are catalectic.

As for the effect of the metre, I'll leave you to decide. I must say, though, you'll get more from analysing grammatical parallelisms, figures of repetition, etc.

Reply 7

Mrs Rickman

*blinks* wow! *Looks up all meanings of words used in above post before English exam in 2 and a half hours time*

Reply 8

lskdgjsj

Da Bachtopus

The predominant metre of the first stanza is actually iambic tetrameter.

Ugh, you're right; I meant iambic. I don't know why I read DA-dum-DA-dum (that's the technical term) for da-DUM-da-DUM; I think the initial 'I' threw me off.

I've always found accentual-syllabic poetry a nuisance; prefer quantitative verse. Suppose that's why I'm a classicist.

Reply 9

Da Bachtopus

svidrigailov

I think the initial 'I' threw me off.

I've always found accentual-syllabic poetry a nuisance; prefer quantitative verse. Suppose that's why I'm a classicist.

I agree that scanning English poetry can be a nuisance, especially since our system for describing metre uses terms intended for Latin and Greek quantitative verse. A great deal of the effect of English poetry comes from the relative speed at which words are enunciated - quite a different aspect of sound patterns from 'stress', though sometimes affected by it. Simply describing foot-type and line-length cannot account for this.

An added complication is that 'stress' can change subtly depending upon the context of words / phonemes / syntax; which syllables are 'strong' is affected by others in the line. In fact, 'London' contains a few feet that aren't as clear as I suggested: is "Near" really that weak when compared with "where"? Is "And the" really stressed in the same way as "hapless"? And, of course, the very first foot, where "I" is quite strong, but not to the extent that it breaks the metre or turns the foot into a spondee.

Deary me!