Optimism and Pessimism Definition in the Literature
Two intelligent people can see the same thing yet perceive it differently based upon their attitudes. Many look at the ugliness of London and reveal in it while others compare it to beauty as a counterpoint. London in the eighteen hundreds was not a pleasant setting and authors treat it differently through imagery, tone, and diction in "London, 1802" by William Wordsworth and William Blake's "London".
Authors' use imagery to depict certain aspects and characteristics of a certain time period and use the language to appeal to the senses. While Wordsworth recognizes the ugliness of London, he applies his imagery to beauty, purity, the past, the pristine world of Milton. Blake's imagery focuses on ugliness, filth, and disease of the people due to the poverty level. Wordsworth longs to escape the distress of the year in London and return to its previous state.
He describes "[the] need of" John Milton, a previously famous poet, in London to assist in overcoming its current ugliness. Wordsworth considers the positive solutions to the ugliness contrasting Blake's non-solution griping to the ugliness currently beleaguering London. Blake sees the truth to his surroundings and emphasizes it to capacity. The "infant's cry of fear" (In 6) depicts the poverty and despair of the commoner and places it in the eyes of everyday people. Imagery is not the only tool that these two authors use to display their point of view, tone is another major device.
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Wordsworth isolates the coherent solutions in "London, 1802" and allows the reader to optimistically see into the eyes of the setting through tone. Imaginatively speaking to Milton, Wordsworth describes the current life to life in the past. London needs "manners, virtue, freedom, [and] power" (8) for every man. His tone calmly discusses the need to fix the current problems but thinks reflection on the past is the way to do so. Blake, on the other hand, stresses the agony, pain, and sooty filth that pervade London. Regardless to location, people are "marks of weakness" (4) throughout the city.
By the way of angry tone, Blake conveys the reality of life and mourns for the sorrow that is felt. Wordsworth and Blake's tone allows an understanding of their individual levels of compassion for the time period intestinally, each choose different diction to address the same subject.
Language drastically changes with each generation but both Wordsworth and Blake use archaic diction, which is appropriate for their decade. Wordsworth uses diction that is prevalent in Milton's time, as a technique to bring the present into the past. Blake writes in the language, of his day. understood more than Wordsworth's in today's world, to emphasize the distress and hopelessness of London.
Authors easily depict emotions and requests through imagery, tone, and diction whether they are impacted positively or negatively. Wordsworth and Blake present the ugliness of London through two different points of views and express two contrasting approaches. And disease of the people due to the poverty level. Wordsworth longs to escape the distress of the year in London and return to its previous state.
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