318.

On

His Blindness

WHEN I consider how my light is spent

E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide,
Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, least he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,
I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and waite.

10

On His Blindness: John Milton - Summary

and Critical Analysis
I am yet only in the middle of my life and I have been turned totally blind. It is barely a terrible
suffering, and seriously handicaps me in the accomplishment of my lifes mission. God graciously
bestowed on me a rare gift, poetic talent. If I now make no use of it because of my blindness God
would certainly scold me. This would mean courting physical, mental and spiritual death.

John Milton

I would be nowhere. But I wonder why should have God made me blind when he expects me to
render as much work and of as good quality as I could be expected to do had my eyes to serve Him.
But I err, I am mistaken. It is my foolishness to doubt and suspect God, the lord of lords. Whatever he
does is right and good. Does God still expect me to carry out his orders and obey his commands
though I have been deprived of my eyesight? God had endowed me with poetic talent- a rare gift, but
how I can serve him now when I have been rendered blind? Will not therefore God keeping in view
my blindness expect any service from me? Of course, if he does look for work and service from me
even now, it would certainly be an act of injustice and unkindness.

But I forget. It is my sheer foolishness to think so. God does not require the service of man nor does
He take back the gift, one bestowed by Him on man. He is almighty and supreme. It is therefore a
folly on my part to think that he requires my services. Indeed they serve him most who patiently and
without a grumble resigns themselves to His will endure all spiritual, mental and physical sufferings
which God may inflict on them. A little calm and careful thinking leads me to believe that the question
of disservice to God does not arise at all. Of course he is Omnipotent, all powerful and Lord of lords
and King of kings. He has countless divine servants, angels etc, to carry out His commands on land,
water and air in the twinkling of an eye. Therefore if I am blind and unable to do any service to Him, I
should only remain loyal to Him. It must be remembered that even silent attendance is also a kind of
service to Him.
By unanimous consent 'On His Blindness' is Miltons best sonnet in which English poetic art attains a
sublime height. Actually it is not a mere poem. It is the inner voice of a man who has resigned
himself entirely to the will of God and depends only on His mercy and justice. This sonnet bears
Italian structure. It proves clearly that Miltons faith in God is unshakeable. It is a sonnet which
touches the poets personally. The sonnet tells us that Milton became blind when he had run only
half the race of his life. He was only 44 when he became totally blind. He was broken down with
grief, disappointment and despair. His only hope was his faith in the mercy, kindness and justice of
God. The poem gives us a glimpse of Miltons philosophy of life. The sonnet is replete with abundant
pathos. It reflects the personal grief and despair of a poet of Miltons eminence. The poet was known
to possess a noble and lofty character and his conduct was akin to his nature and temperament. He
therefore does not lose heart or weep like an ordinary man. He endures suffering with fortitude and
bears the loss of his eyesight in a courageous and manly way. Incidentally, this sonnet solves an
age-old question. The problem is, does God require the service of man? Milton employs patience to
solve this riddle. The answer is that those who resign themselves unquestioningly to the will and
wishes of God are his best servants. This idea is repeated with ample emphasis twice in this sonnet.
Like the outstanding characteristic of all great and good poetry, this sonnet has a universal appeal,
far from being a mere poem. It is barely a divine message of the afflicted people of the world, to
mankind as whole, that has unbounded faith in Gods mercy and generosity. The poem is rich in
noble ideas, sublime thoughts and unbounded bliss. It raises Milton very high in public estimation
and makes him immortal. Milton has used two very effective poetic devices in this poem: allegory
and personification. An allegory is a story in which events and characters stand for some other
situation and people. In this poem the poet persona I may represent all the human beings having
eyes spiritually in darkness. Personification on the other hand is a technique in which abstract

concepts and qualities such as love, hatred, and jealousy are represented as person. In this sonnet
Milton has personified patience which speaks to him and rescues him from his dilemma. If we look
at the form of this sonnet, we shall find it different from the Shakespearian or Italian sonnet. The
rhyme scheme is abba abba cde cde but the division between sestet and the octave is not neat as in
an Italian sonnet. The sentence of the sestet begins in the line of the octave itself.
- See more at: http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/on-hisblindness.html#.V3qZItJ97IU

Poem Summary
Many people are familiar with the story of Ludwig Van Beethoven. This man, in spite of being deaf,
managed to become a world-renowned composer. What a terrible fate: to have the sense most
integral to your art be taken away from you. Similar is the story of John Milton, an English poet,
who, by 1655 at age 48, was blind. His ability to write was threatened and, as a result, his
relationship with God became complicated.
In On His Blindness, Milton is struggling to understand what God expects of him now that he is
losing his sight. He's upset about wasting 'that one Talent which is death to hide' (line 3), which is a
biblical reference to the parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30), in which two people invest their
talents (in the story, 'talents' are money), while another just hides his talent in a hole and is punished.
Milton feels that God expects him to use his talent for writing poetry in a way that honors Him.
Milton is frustrated that his lack of sight is preventing him from serving God when he wants to so
badly:
...Though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account... (lines 4-6)
Milton's 'true account' refers to his religious poetry. Much of his poetry was concerned with God's
relationship to mankind and he considered it a serious duty to write poetry that simultaneously made
God's mysterious ways more clear to people and honored God with its craft.
At line 7, Milton wonders if God still expects him to keep writing without his sight, then decides that
God is more forgiving than he was giving him credit for, Surely, knowing of his condition and strong

desire to please Him, God wouldn't expect anything that he couldn't possibly accomplish, nor would
he punish him.
The last half of the poem has a calmer tone. It's almost like Milton realizes that while he's writing that
people can serve God in many different ways. It's the intent and the grace with which one deals with
hardship that counts:
Who best
Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best.
Within 14 lines, Milton has depicted a wavering, then regaining of faith.

Theme
While the poem discusses Milton's blindness, his condition is used to explore his faith. Like Milton's
other religious poetry, the purpose is to decide what a person's relationship with God and his or her
role on Earth should look like.
At first, he was afraid he would be punished for wasting his talent and seemed almost distrusting of
God (who, presumably, might have the power to cause or prevent his blindness) still expecting him to
write, then he decided that bearing his blindness gracefully and doing the best he could would satisfy
Him.
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This article provides a summary of the poem On His Blindness by John Milton. A
completeanalysis of on his blindness with a special emphasis on letting the readers understand
the theme of on his blindness. It is one of the most popular sonnets read in high schools and
undergraduate classes. Here, I have provided a short synopsis of what this sonnet tries to infer. This
sonnet is written as a result of Miltons grief, as he lost his eye sight at his middle age.
You can share this article with your friends, classmates and buddies if they are in need of. Share it in
facebook.

Miltons eye sight was weak from his early youth. In a prose pamphlet, he describes, I never
extinguished my lamp before midnight and points his ultimate blindness to the strain put upon his
eyes. In the verses of Wood who knew Milton very well: It was unusual with him to sit up till midnight
at his books, which was the first thing that brought his eyes into the danger of blindness. Click here
to continue reading

Date of Composition and Insights about the

Sonnet
The exact date of composition of the sonnet cant be ascertained. Milton became completely blind in
1652. Stopford Brooke is of this opinion- He says that this sonnet was written 20 years after his first
sonnet, which was written in 1632, which implies that it was writer somewhere after his blindness in
1652. This sonnet was first published in 1673.
Keynote: In this sonnet there is an undertone of despondency, even a sense of impatience though
Milton checks himself from any impious thought. This sonnet records the first shock of Miltons
blindness.
The Substance and Critical Appreciation:
Milton regrets that he has lost his eye-sight even before reaching the middle age. He is afraid that
because of his blindness he cannot serve God by using his poetic talent, though he is eager to make
the right and proper use of it. He fears that God may punish him for failing to serve Him by using his
God-given gift of writing poetry. When such fears trouble him, for a moment his soul is disturbed by
questioning the justice of God. But at once the religious conscience quiets his soul. He realizes that
God doesnt care for the service of man; nor does He care if His gifts are used or not. He is the King
of kings and He had thousands of angels serving Him day and night, over earth and sea. Service to
God consists not only in active work but also in patient resignation to His will and dispensation.
Lines 1-8:
Milton gets rather impatient at the thought of his blindness. He is blind in the middle age. Blindness
prevents him from using his poetic talent by writing something great to glorify God. He has a keen
desire to serve God by using his poetic talent, because he knows that God wants man to use his
God-given power or he may be punished. In an impatient mood Milton doubts if God would be just in
demanding work from a blind man like him.
Lines 8-14:
Miltons attitude of doubt passes off in a moment. His inner conscience rises up with its faith in Gods

justice. He realizes that God does not need mans work by way of service to him; nor does he care
whether man uses His gifts. He is the King of kings; His dominion is over the universe. He has
thousands of angels doing His biddings at all times flying over land and sea. He has thousands of
others who stand by His throne and sing His praise. The latter too are as good as beloved as the
active angels. So, patient submission to His will is the best service to Him.

But Patience, to prevent The Heart of the

Sonnet
For a moment, and only for a moment, Milton is perturbed at the thought that God may punish him
for not using his poetic gift rightly in doing something great in His service. He doubts Gods justice
and wisdom. But the next moment his inner sense of resignation to the Divine will pulls him up. He at
once realizes that God does not care for the active service of man, nor does He take back the gifts
bestowed on man, if man cannot use them for adequate reason. God is neither so thoughtless nor so
poor. Milton realizes that service to God consists in patient submission to His will; those who
uncomplainingly take the afflictions of God as His measure for correcting and improving them and
thus resign themselves fully to His all-wise and all-just providence, are His true servants.

Why On His Blindness is considered one of

the greatest all time sonnets?
This is a popular question and students tends to get answer it in the perspective of literary analysis.
However, I visualize it in a totally different way. The reason why On His Blindness is such a great
sonnet is because of Milton himself and the confession he makes in this sonnet. Milton is certainly
ranked in the highest level, par with other literary emperors. His exceptional epic pieces, Paradise
Lost and Paradise Regained were written after he was completely blind.
His enormous faith in God made him able to produce works of such rare talent, and in this sonnet, he
admitted his faith in God, made a yearning desire to write something great and dedicate it as a
service to God. His admission and faith provided him the power to produce his Immortal epics This
is why, On His Blindness is so important as a sonnet when one studies about Miltons life.
I have a working note, complete line by line exhaustive analysis of this poem, On his Blindness
which I may publish within some days. However, if anyone of you are in need of that, do let me know
through your comments. Then, I shall stretch myself to publish it here, a bit faster.

London

Related Poem Content Details

Turn annotations of

BY WILLIAM BLAKE
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

William Blake Historical Context

An evaluation of the ideologies of Blake's informing context.

William Blake
1757 - 1827

Forgotten by his contemporaries but venerated by modern society, British poet, prophet, publisher, and
artist William Blake was the earliest of a long line of reformist romantic poets. Regarded widely as a mad
man, Blake was above all else a rebel whose anti-authoritarian spirit, and belief in freedom and
individuality formed the basis of his revolutionary poetry. With it?s own unique style and form, Blake?s
poetry outlived its critics, and William Blake is now widely identified as one of the greatest lyric poets of
all time.
From humble beginnings as the son of a hosier, Blake was essentially self taught, drawing inspiration and
influence from German mystic Jakob Bohemia and the pivotal works of Emanuel Swedenborg. After his
preliminary education, he briefly attended the Royal Academy before being requested to leave after
challenging the school?s president. Later on Blake managed to establish friendships with renowned
academicians such as John Flaxman and Henery Fuseli, whose works may or may not have influenced his
later poetry. Blake is usually referred to as a pre-romantic as result of the manner in which he would reject
the traditional neoclassical style and modes of thought. Instead he attempted to appeal to the imagination
and emotions over reason and practicality, a trademark identifiable within a number of his poems,
particularly those of, ?Holy Thursday? from the Songs Of Innocence, and to a lesser extent in his later
song of experience, ?The Sick Rose?.
A significant part of Blake?s writing is the presentation of his own dominant ideologies and beliefs. He
once stated: ?I must create my own system or be enslaved by another man?s.? this truly defines the
rebellious spirit of Blake. Similar to the notions examined at great length within the Songs Of Innocence,
Blake is strongly in favour of intuition, spontaneity, energy and imagination; characteristics he later
equates to being man?s path to divinity in ?Auguries of Innocence?. Meanwhile he was strongly opposed
to the melancholic notions that are found riddled throughout his later work. Highly critical poems on
rationality, normality and societal parameters are not uncommon and a trademark of Blake?s later, far
more bitter poetry. As a social commentator, a number of issues relevant at the time were the inspiration
behind gloomy works such as ?The Chimney Sweeper? regarding industrialisation and, from the Songs Of
Experience, ?Holy Thursday?, in reference to poverty. Yet another concern to reformist Blake was society?
s unwillingness to accept and recognise new ideas and opportunities for change. Stating at one point that
these reservations were ?an enemy to social progression? he went on to poetically describes this woe in
one of his more famous works, ?Mock On,?:

?Mock On, Mock On Voltaire, Rousseau:

Mock on, Mock on: ?tis all in vain!
You throw the sands against the wind
And the wind blows them back again.
While on initial examination its implications may seem minimal, further analysis of the excerpt proves to
be enlightening. The retained image of the sand is actually an extended metaphor that runs throughout
the entire poem. Representing the ideas of real life contemporary academics Voltaire and Rousseau, the
sand, or ideas are thrown against the wind, the beliefs of society, where they are there upon ?blown back?
or rejected as a result of society?s unwillingness to change it?s direction.
William Blake began his writing career in the late eighteenth century, continuing right up to his death in
1827. This period, between his birth in 1757 and his death seventy years later, was a time of great social,
political, philosophical and economic upheaval. One of the major alterations to traditional life was the
emergence of large, industrial, over populated cities that accommodated for the large influx of people to
metropolitan areas following the agricultural and industrial revolutions. The resulting society was one of
oppression and poverty; a darker period of human history to which Blake was utterly disgusted. As a
compassionate, moral man he despised the injustices and basic rights violations that had become a part of
modern life. Consequently these social grievances became the basis of a large number of Blake?s poems. ?
London?, for instance, is one of Blake?s more blatant attacks on such a society and its value system. The
dark mood and imagery of ?London? is effective at conveying the bleakness of the city:
?How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every black?ning church appalls,
And the hapless soldier?s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace Walls:?
As horrifically vivid as this is, the persona continues, commenting on the sadness within the citizens, and
his ability to find: ?Marks of weakness, marks of woe? within their faces as they pass.
At the same time there was great concern and conflict within Britain?s political spheres, regarding either
Britain?s participation in, or preparation for war throughout this entire period. The American War of
Independence, in 1776 through to 1783, and the French Revolution over the sixteen years between 1789 to
1815 were valid indications of a failing political, social, economic and in some cases, moral polity. It was
felt that the governments were unable to guarantee the safety and health of the mistreated citizenship and
the 18th Century steadily became seen as a period of excess corruption, venality and lies. Consequently a

number of courageous individuals stood up against the oligarchy, but to little success. Poets such as Blake,
who supported the revolutions, attempted to undermine the British political system through the
publication of poems like ?The French Revolution?, ?America, a Prophecy? and ?The Book of Urizen?, but
to no avail. Unfortunately too few cared to know, or appreciated the poetry and sound reasoning of
William Blake.
These inadequacies, however, were not simply limited to the realm of politics. At the time in which Blake
was writing the church was hardly the virtuous institution we associate with religion today. It was not
uncommon for the church to utilise vicious child labour, retain donated money and show little interest in
the actual helping of the poor and needy. As a promoter of social justice and an extremely humane man,
Blake was strongly opposed to the Christian church, an element that often comes through in his writing.
He did not, however, refuse the existence of God. Instead he recognised an extremely unique, and
arguably heretical belief that Christ, the Son, represented all that is good and spiritual, while the Father,
God, was a symbol of absolute power, terror and tyranny. It is possible to recognise Blake?s interpretation
of Christianity through his poetry. For instance in ?The Lamb? Blake identifies the role of ?the maker? not
with God the father, but rather with Jesus, the Lamb of God.
?Little Lamb, who make thee??
?Little lamb, I?ll tell thee?
?he calls himself a lamb.?
The wide range of influences, ideas and life experiences outlined above all would have had an effect on the
manner in which Blake wrote the poetry for which he is remembered today. The range of forms and
techniques found within his works is directly proportional to the variety of life experiences and ideologies
that define him as an individual.
It is also interesting though, in the understanding of the nature of his work, to discover what defines him
as a poet. Writing during a period in which a profound shift of sensibility within literary works took place,
Blake is widely considered an early, influential romanticist. Inspired by revolutions and the need for
leadership and voice, the Romantic Movement championed progressive causes, whilst also being capable
of being quite bitter and gloomy should these reformist attempts become frustrated. Emotionally it
expressed extreme affirmation of the self, whilst spiritually it tended to encourage a sense and
understanding of the infinite and supernatural. Blake was the definitive romanticist, unfortunately his
chronological place in the movement?s progression allows him only to be referred to as an early or preromanticist. Despite this, Blake?s role in establishing and developing the Romantic Movement can not be
ignored, in fact, it could be argued that Blake?s involvement within the preliminary stages of the period?s

development means he is able to more readily meet the criteria that characterises a romantic writer. In
reference to revolutionary inspiration, it is no secret that Blake openly supported the French and
American revolutions overseas. He was also a heavy promoter of progressive causes, such as those of
Voltaire and Rousseau?s, but he too was capable, and often demonstrated an amplitude of bitterness
when his beliefs did not meet those of wider society. As was the case with ?Mock On,? and the religion
defining ?The Four Zoas?. Similarly Blake opposed conformity and oppression, constantly exhibiting an
appreciation for freedom and individuality, perhaps most obviously, however, in two of his more obscure
poems ?The Human Abstract? and ?The Mental Traveller?.
Crucial to our understanding of William Blake, is the notion that he saw poetry and art as the avenue to
social reform. Although throughout his life he demonstrated a passion for his work, Blake?s writings were
by no means purely recreational, but rather social critiques and doctrines, analysing issues within his
contemporary society. The public response, however, was hardly auspicious and Blake, like many other
pre-romantic writers, was ostracised from the literature and general community. Proclaimed a heretic and
a mad man, it is only recently that people have begun to recognise the significance, and the sheer beauty
of his unique style and form of poetry. This beauty, however, does not lie solely on his selection of words.
By combining his passions for art and poetry, Blake would pen his works and then illustrate the remaining
space and borders. It is now encouraged that students study his works complete, as one unified piece. It is
believed that the illustrations, despite being of little literary merit do provide a slight insight into what the
poet might have been thinking when he wrote the poem.
Another interesting element in Blake?s poetry is the notion of contrast and opposition, he states: ?
Without contraries [there] is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and
Hate, all are necessary to human existence.? He argued that all things have a natural contrast, in the case
of Blake?s poems this is justified by the plurality of his work; often publishing two poems on the same
idea, but from different perspectives. It is generally regarded that Blake?s greatest poetic achievements
are those of the Songs Of Innocence and the Songs Of Experience, collections of poems between which
there is often an obvious contrast between a similarly titled poems, or poems dealing with a similar
issue. ?The Sick Rose? compared to ?The Blossom? and the ?Holy Thursday? ?s (one from the Songs of
Innocence and Experience respectively) are the classic examples of such contrary works.
With a large emphasis on rhythm, his poems tend to maintain an almost song like quality. Although the
actual number of beats per line will vary between poems, within the same poem there is an almost
formulaic approach that determines the number of beats required to maintain this natural, song-like
rhythmic flow. Take, for example, the last stanza from ?My Spectre Around Me??:

?And let us go to the highest downs

With many pleasing wiles
The Women that does not love your Frowns
Will never embrace your smiles.?
Here it is possible to recognise the crisp, neat rhythms within Blake?s work. In this particular case the
lines are made up of alternating number of beats. Whilst the first and third lines share the same number
of eight beats per line, lines two and four, in a combination with their aurally shorter language and shorter
sentence structure have only six beats per line. The result is almost an ?ABAB? rhythm pattern that is
reminiscent of early nursery rhymes and simple songs. The fluctuating rhythmic feel of this poem, and
indeed Blake?s poems in general, allow for a greater progression of thought, as well as enabling a
smoother flow between sentences and ideas. Simultaneously it places additional emphasis on the
concluding word on each line.
Generally the preponderance of content for Blake?s poems comes from the time in which they were
written. While he originally appreciated and wrote about what little beauty was left in the modern world,
Blake slowly became more sinister and pessimistic in his artistic interpretation of the world. As a social
commentator, Blake would draw upon relevant issues and injustices to write about. Consequently,
reoccurring themes involving, industrialisation, injustice, poverty, child labour, loss of individuality and
social oppression are not uncommon amongst a collection of his work. For instance, ?The Chimney
Sweeper? from the Songs of Experience was written during a period in which child labor was freely
utilised without little thought for the harm it caused the children involved:
?A little black thing among the snow
Crying ?weep ?weep! in notes of woe:
Where are thy mother & father? Say??
They think they have done me no injury:?
By utilising the oppressed persona of the chimney sweeper himself it is possible for Blake to convey
thoughts and dismay that would otherwise be ignored. This theme of aid to oppressed is typical of Blake,
whose compassion was perhaps the most active quality throughout all stages of his life. Blake remained a
significant religious artist and poet throughout his writing career, publishing works such as ?The
Everlasting Gospel?, ?A Divine Image? and ?Jerusalem? to the stage that by the time of his death, the
majority of his work contained or inferred some element of the supernatural or religion.
Blake has an extraordinary gift in the ability to explain complex events and ideas with the simplest yet

most vivid language possible. His words are simple, succinct and subtle, and he uses a number of
adjectives and adverbs to heighten emotion. As if an artist selecting his paint colour, Blake was able to
select his words to match the mood, tone, rhythm and meaning of each particular poem. In ?London? the
statement that ?every blackening church appalls,? has multiple interpretations on the basis of language. It
is possible to interpret the fact that the church is becoming black simply as a result of its filthy
surroundings, but it is also possible to equate the action of becoming black, to the act of becoming evil.
Similarly the use of the word ?appalls? can mean to be horrified, but it may also mean the act of casting a
burial shroud; in this case over the oppressed citizens of London.
?All visible things, all descriptions, all language, function figuratively, as metaphors and symbols which
will reveal the invisible and ultimate realities on which life is built? This sense, that all things are symbolic
also comes through as an element of Blake?s poetry. With a distinct absence of rational story from all his
works it becomes apparent, very early on, that there is more to his poems than meets the eye. In his
earlier, more simplistic works, such as those within the Songs of Innocence, Blake tended to use more
familiar, obvious and simple symbols, such as the lamb to represent Christ. As Blake progressed as a
writer over the five years between the publication of the Songs Of Innocence and the Songs Of Experience,
he experimented more with the application of more complex symbols, such as those of nature, technology,
and the human form in ?A Divine Image?. Soon Blake began to apply symbols that are not so easily
interpreted, or carry multiple interpretations, finally stating ?that which can be made explicit to the idiot
is not worth my care.?
When the poems of William Blake were originally published they were met by massive public outcry, yet
today we honour them as some of the greatest poet works since Shakespeare. Despite the difficulty in
trying comprehend the nature of the atrocities dealt with within the poetry, in being so far removed from
the context in which they were written it is possible for us to appreciate them not only on the grounds of
their technical merit but also on their effectiveness at conveying their once controversial messages and
ideas. Where as when they were originally being read and interpreted nobody wanted to know or
appreciated William Blake?s analysis of the world condition. Today, distanced from the society in
question, it is much easier to analyse the poetry of William Blake, yet far more difficult to empathise with
what is being said.
The solution is to determine a modern meaning, an interpretation not envisaged by the author, but one
that is relevant to today. Although the events described within his poems are no longer inside the realm of
emotional comprehension, Blake?s cause, even beyond his death, remains the same, and as relevant as
ever. This is Blake?s gift to his readers, for no matter what happens the essential issues are eternal, and
thus instilling immortality onto the poetry of William Blake.

PERSONAL ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

In the poem, William Blake is principally describing a very corrupted society
dominated by the power of materialism and the contrast between upper and workingclass sections of society. It is written from a very negative perspective where people
who exist in a dark and oppressive world, suffering the consequences of corruption of
those in positions of power. The problem is that they do not realize this is happening
to them. For this reason, he is rejecting the idea of an ideological or perfect place to
live and he wants people to be aware of the misery surrounding them. No wonderful
streets, no pleasant people. A world with a very depressing atmosphere, where
everything is poverty stricken. All these ideas are represented in one place: London.
The poem is divided in four quatrains in iambic tetrameter, with a basic rhyme scheme
starting a/b/a/b.
In the first quatrain, the author is talking about how he is walking through every
transitory street. The adjective chartered seems to connote the importance of money
to live everyday in this ephemeral world, where everything is focused around money,
richness and its value to reach anything. But, in despite of the role of money has in the
world and happiness because of its value, many people are dominated by sorrow and
sadness. The verses In every cry of every man and in every infants cry of fear are
examples of this fact. People are not happy. They are living in fear all the time, inside
the dark of a society influenced by materialism. Human beings are loosing the real
sense of life.
The materialism of words is reflected in the second quatrain with the mind-forged
manacles, which represents peoples preoccupation for money and the dependence to
the important institutions.

In the third quatrain, the author is comparing two different representations: a chimneysweeper and a soldier. Both of them are archetypal that represent the most important

institutions of that time: Monarchy and the Church, which are the reason of the
suffering of human beings. This one has a clear connotation of power and
manipulation in society.
The fourth quatrain represents the author talking again about what he hears
metaphorically while he is walking through the street. The youthful harlots curse
makes reference to the disease of syphilis, very frequent in that time, in the
18th century, which is the principal cause of death. The term harlot has negative
connotations, as curse. It is interpreted as something which destroys life and
society. Syphilisdestroys life, whereas harlots destroy families, and family is the most
important part in society, in this case, in English society. The marriage-hearse could
be understood as a vehicle in which love and desire combine with death and
destruction (Elite Skills classics, 2004).
The final idea of this poem is the claim of a free society, without any chains, without
any kind of ideological condition. The message is to be free yourself from the
restriction of your own mind and the conceptions to be able to find freedom.

ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEXT OF LONDON.

The work where this poem is taken place is in Songs of Innocence and of
Experience, published in 1794. The book combines two sets of poems related by the
principle of contrast; a contrast between the state of innocence (childhood, idealism,
hope) with poems as The Lamb or The Little Black Boy; and that of Experience
(adulthood, disillusionment, social criticism and despair) as The Tyger and The Little
Vagabond. Innocence is the world of the Lamb, the world of the true God of Love and
Understanding, or Jesus, while Experience is the word of the false God, or the great
negative influence (Skoletorget, 2004). The poem London is clearly inside his last
work, Experience, where he shows that if the institution and structure of a place is
corrupt, then people can never have a chance for innocence (Plagiarist, 1998-2007).
Within this context, it is necessary to point out that London is the only poem from this
collection without an innocent pair. This reiterates Blakes disgust at the state of
affairs inLondon. Theres no nice innocent side (Plagiarist, 1998-2007).

His spiritual beliefs are evidenced in Songs of Experience, in which he shows his
own distinction between the Old Testament God, whose restrictions he rejected, and
the New Testament God; whom he saw as a positive influence (Wikipedia: The Free
Encyclopedia; William Blake; 28 Nov. 2007).
Blakes affection for the Bible was accompanied by hostility for the established
church. It was an early and profound influence on Blake, and would remain a source
of inspiration throughout his life (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia; William
Blake; 28 Nov. 2007). The last works are based on the idea of God and the
symbolism of the vital relationship and unity between divinity and humanity. Blake
designed his own mythology, which appears largely in his prophetic books. It was
based mainly upon the Bible and on Greek mythology, to accompany his ideas about
the everlasting Gospel. He believed that the joy of man glorified god and that the
religious of this world is actually the worship of Satan (Wikipedia: The Free
Encyclopedia; William Blake; 28 Nov. 2007). Relating to the idea of humanity,
Blake abhorred slavery and believed in racial and sexual equality. Several of his
poems and printings express a notion of universal humanity. He retained an active
interest in social and political events for all his life, but was often forced to resort to
cloaking social idealism and political statements in Protestant mystical
allegory (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia; William Blake, 28 Nov. 2007).
Many of the poems appearing in Songs of Innocence have a counterpart in Songs
of Experience with opposing perspectives of the world. The disastrous end of the
French Revolution caused Blake to lose faith in the goodness of mankind, explaining
much of the volumes sense of despair (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia; Songs of
Innocence and of Experience; 28 Nov. 2007).
Relating to history, London could be a place of honest work, where merchants
and artisans were able to stand up as citizens, defending their rights against tyrannical
authority. But citizens might be corrupted by the profits of war. As an imperial centre,
and a harmony of war, London also had a dark side for Blake. Even
though London was not really a factory town, he saw in it an emblem for the emerging
Industrial Revolutions pollution of the English land and oppression of the common
people. He was powerfully influenced by the French and American revolutions, and
his critique of the new modernity was a comprehensive one, ranging from

imperialistic government, to industry, to the social relations of everyday life

(W.W. Norton, 2005).
According to Blakes legacy, like other great artists, he had a profound intuitive
grasp of human psychology. More explicitly than any English writer before him,
however, he pointed out the interrelationship of problems associated with cruelty, selfrighteousness, sexual disturbance, social inequity, repression of energy by reason, and
revolutionary violence. He identified all these ills as symptoms rather than causes:
symptoms of the absence of love, the starvation of the spirit, and the fragmentation of
both the individual personality and the human family. For Blake, the fragmentation
and emptiness of most people's lives can best be understood through a myth of the
Fall of Man. The prophet sees all the misery and bewilderment resulting from the Fall;
his duty is both to identify the causes of evil and to dispel the illusion that it is
inevitable: The Nature of my Work is Visionary or Imaginative; it is an Endeavour to
Restore what the Ancients called the Golden Age. Blake dreamed dreams and saw
visions not for escape but for change and renewal. The purpose of art, he insisted, is to
enable all people to share in vision, to coordinate a prophetic insight into
contemporary events with a visionary perception of how life might be different and
better. With him, a few of his contemporaries were able to recognize that artistic
innovations, unlike debates in Parliament or battles in Europe, can unify and inspire a
society to work for the New Age (W.W. Norton, 2005).
Blakes poem becomes a critique of contemporary global capital and its encroachment
upon all aspects of daily life (Roger Whitson, 2006). Moreover, largely unrecognised
during his lifetime, Blakes work is today considered seminal and significant in the
history of both poetry and the visual arts. He was voted 38 th in a poll of the 100
Greatest Britons organised by the BBC in 2002 (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia;
William Blake; 28 Nov. 2007).

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn opens by familiarizing us with the events of

the novel that preceded it, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Both novels are set in
the town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, which lies on the banks of the Mississippi
River. At the end of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, a poor boy with a drunken

bum for a father, and his friend Tom Sawyer, a middle-class boy with an
imagination too active for his own good, found a robbers stash of gold. As a
result of his adventure, Huck gained quite a bit of money, which the bank held for
him in trust. Huck was adopted by the Widow Douglas, a kind but stifling woman
who lives with her sister, the self-righteous Miss Watson.
As Huckleberry Finnopens, Huck is none too thrilled with his new life of
cleanliness, manners, church, and school. However, he sticks it out at the
bequest of Tom Sawyer, who tells him that in order to take part in Toms new
robbers gang, Huck must stay respectable. All is well and good until Hucks
brutish, drunken father, Pap, reappears in town and demands Hucks money. The
local judge, Judge Thatcher, and the Widow try to get legal custody of Huck, but
another well-intentioned new judge in town believes in the rights of Hucks
natural father and even takes the old drunk into his own home in an attempt to
reform him. This effort fails miserably, and Pap soon returns to his old ways. He
hangs around town for several months, harassing his son, who in the meantime
has learned to read and to tolerate the Widows attempts to improve him. Finally,
outraged when the Widow Douglas warns him to stay away from her house, Pap
kidnaps Huck and holds him in a cabin across the river from St. Petersburg.
Whenever Pap goes out, he locks Huck in the cabin, and when he returns home
drunk, he beats the boy. Tired of his confinement and fearing the beatings will
worsen, Huck escapes from Pap by faking his own death, killing a pig and
spreading its blood all over the cabin. Hiding on Jacksons Island in the middle of
the Mississippi River, Huck watches the townspeople search the river for his
body. After a few days on the island, he encounters Jim, one of Miss Watsons
slaves. Jim has run away from Miss Watson after hearing her talk about selling
him to a plantation down the river, where he would be treated horribly and
separated from his wife and children. Huck and Jim team up, despite Hucks
uncertainty about the legality or morality of helping a runaway slave. While they
camp out on the island, a great storm causes the Mississippi to flood. Huck and

Jim spy a log raft and a house floating past the island. They capture the raft and
loot the house, finding in it the body of a man who has been shot. Jim refuses to
let Huck see the dead mans face.
Although the island is blissful, Huck and Jim are forced to leave after Huck learns
from a woman onshore that her husband has seen smoke coming from the island
and believes that Jim is hiding out there. Huck also learns that a reward has
been offered for Jims capture. Huck and Jim start downriver on the raft,
intending to leave it at the mouth of the Ohio River and proceed up that river by
steamboat to the free states, where slavery is prohibited. Several days travel
takes them past St. Louis, and they have a close encounter with a gang of
robbers on a wrecked steamboat. They manage to escape with the robbers loot.
During a night of thick fog, Huck and Jim miss the mouth of the Ohio and
encounter a group of men looking for escaped slaves. Huck has a brief moral
crisis about concealing stolen propertyJim, after all, belongs to Miss Watson
but then lies to the men and tells them that his father is on the raft suffering
from smallpox. Terrified of the disease, the men give Huck money and hurry
away. Unable to backtrack to the mouth of the Ohio, Huck and Jim continue
downriver. The next night, a steamboat slams into their raft, and Huck and Jim
are separated.
Huck ends up in the home of the kindly Grangerfords, a family of Southern
aristocrats locked in a bitter and silly feud with a neighboring clan, the
Shepherdsons. The elopement of a Grangerford daughter with a Shepherdson
son leads to a gun battle in which many in the families are killed. While Huck is
caught up in the feud, Jim shows up with the repaired raft. Huck hurries to Jims
hiding place, and they take off down the river.
A few days later, Huck and Jim rescue a pair of men who are being pursued by
armed bandits. The men, clearly con artists, claim to be a displaced English duke
(the duke) and the long-lost heir to the French throne (the dauphin). Powerless to

tell two white adults to leave, Huck and Jim continue down the river with the pair
of aristocrats. The duke and the dauphin pull several scams in the small towns
along the river. Coming into one town, they hear the story of a man, Peter Wilks,
who has recently died and left much of his inheritance to his two brothers, who
should be arriving from England any day. The duke and the dauphin enter the
town pretending to be Wilkss brothers. Wilkss three nieces welcome the con
men and quickly set about liquidating the estate. A few townspeople become
skeptical, and Huck, who grows to admire the Wilks sisters, decides to thwart the
scam. He steals the dead Peter Wilkss gold from the duke and the dauphin but
is forced to stash it in Wilkss coffin. Huck then reveals all to the eldest Wilks
sister, Mary Jane. Hucks plan for exposing the duke and the dauphin is about to
unfold when Wilkss real brothers arrive from England. The angry townspeople
hold both sets of Wilks claimants, and the duke and the dauphin just barely
escape in the ensuing confusion. Fortunately for the sisters, the gold is found.
Unfortunately for Huck and Jim, the duke and the dauphin make it back to the raft
just as Huck and Jim are pushing off.
After a few more small scams, the duke and dauphin commit their worst crime
yet: they sell Jim to a local farmer, telling him Jim is a runaway for whom a large
reward is being offered. Huck finds out where Jim is being held and resolves to
free him. At the house where Jim is a prisoner, a woman greets Huck excitedly
and calls him Tom. As Huck quickly discovers, the people holding Jim are none
other than Tom Sawyers aunt and uncle, Silas and Sally Phelps. The Phelpses
mistake Huck for Tom, who is due to arrive for a visit, and Huck goes along with
their mistake. He intercepts Tom between the Phelps house and the steamboat
dock, and Tom pretends to be his own younger brother, Sid.
Tom hatches a wild plan to free Jim, adding all sorts of unnecessary obstacles
even though Jim is only lightly secured. Huck is sure Toms plan will get them all
killed, but he complies nonetheless. After a seeming eternity of pointless
preparation, during which the boys ransack the Phelpss house and make Aunt

Sally miserable, they put the plan into action. Jim is freed, but a pursuer shoots
Tom in the leg. Huck is forced to get a doctor, and Jim sacrifices his freedom to
nurse Tom. All are returned to the Phelpss house, where Jim ends up back in
chains.
When Tom wakes the next morning, he reveals that Jim has actually been a free
man all along, as Miss Watson, who made a provision in her will to free Jim, died
two months earlier. Tom had planned the entire escape idea all as a game and
had intended to pay Jim for his troubles. Toms Aunt Polly then shows up,
identifying Tom and Sid as Huck and Tom. Jim tells Huck, who fears for his
futureparticularly that his father might reappearthat the body they found on
the floating house off Jacksons Island had been Paps. Aunt Sally then steps in
and offers to adopt Huck, but Huck, who has had enough sivilizing, announces
his plan to set out for the West.

Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn after the Civil War. The legal issues of
slavery had been settled but the moral and philosophical issues remained,
and to some extent, they linger with us today. Twain was skeptical of
organized religion and found it both ironic and hypocritical for any citizen to
claim to be a Christian and to also find justification in the dehumanizing of
Black Americans. Those who believed in slavery may have had economic
reasons for their belief, but in essence, they began with the notion that black
people were less than human. The brilliance of his character creation of Huck
Finn was that Huck was a product of his own culture and society. Hucks most
personal and agonizing dilemma in the book is his belief that Jim was the
property of someone else. If Huck was to help Jim, he would be committing a
sin. He would be stealing someone elses property. Huck believed this
because that is what he was raised to believe. Huck has to decide whether
Jim is property or his friend, his human friend. Everything Jim does leads

Huck to believe that Jim is his friend, and in the end he accepts what he thinks
is his fate. He will go to hell. Hucks comprehension of Christian beliefs is not
very deep, and that is another brilliant choice by Twain, in that Hucks
ignorance is far more harmful than his knowledge. Like the old clich, A little
knowledge is a dangerous thing. Twain made another brilliant choice by
telling the entire story through the eyes of his hero, Huck. We are privy to
Hucks real thoughts in real time, and the beauty of Huck Finn, an ignorant
southern adolescent living in the South during times of slavery is that Huck is
open minded and an independent thinker. He is wise beyond his years. Twain
was a very sharp critic of society and culture, but he was averse to moralizing
and preferred to be thought of as a writer rather than a philosopher. By
placing this abused boy, neglected and uneducated, even uncivilized as
Huck calls himself, in that time right before the nation was torn apart and to
pair him up with a black slave, the very object of the coming dispute, and to
allow Huck to experience the time and observe the civilization of adults,
allows the reader to come to their own moral conclusions and to either agree
or disagree with Hucks simple philosophy.
Critical Essays Freedom versus Civilization
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As with most works of literature, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn incorporates several

themes developed around a central plot create a story. In this case, the story is of a
young boy, Huck, and an escaped slave, Jim, and their moral, ethical, and human
development during an odyssey down the Mississippi River that brings them into many
conflicts with greater society. What Huck and Jim seek is freedom, and this freedom is
sharply contrasted with the existing civilization along the great river. The practice of
combining contrasting themes is common throughout Huck Finn, and Twain uses the
resulting contradictions for the purposes of humor and insight. If freedom versus
civilization is the overarching theme of the novel, it is illustrated through several thematic
contradictions, including Tom's Romanticism versus Huck's Realism.
The Romantic literary movement began in the late eighteenth century and prospered
into the nineteenth century. Described as a revolt against the rationalism that had

defined the Neo-Classical movement (dominate during the seventeenth and early
eighteenth century), Romanticism placed heavy emphasis on imagination, emotion, and
sensibility. Heroic feats, dangerous adventures, and inflated prose marked the resulting
literature, which exalted the senses and emotion over intellect and reason. Authors such
as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe all enjoyed
immense popularity. In addition, the writers of the New England Renaissance
Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier dominated literary study, and the
public's appetite for extravagance appeared to be insatiable.
By the end of the 1870s, however, the great age of Romanticism appeared to be
reaching its zenith. Bawdy humor and a realistic portrayal of the new American frontier
were quickly displacing the refined culture of the New England literary circle. William
Dean Howells described the new movement as "nothing more and nothing less than the
truthful treatment of material." A new brand of literature emerged from the ashes of
refined Romanticism, and this literature attacked existing icons, both literary and
societal. The attack was not surprising, for the new authors, such as Mark Twain, had
risen from middle-class values, and thus they were in direct contrast to the educated
and genteel writers who had come before them. Literary Realism strove to depict an
America as it really was, unfettered by Romanticism and often cruel and harsh in its
reality. InHuck Finn, this contrast reveals itself in the guise of Tom and Huck.
Representing the Romantic movement, Tom gleefully pulls the logical Huck into his
schemes and adventures. When the boys come together at the beginning of the novel to
create a band of robbers, Tom tells the gang that if anyone whispers their secrets, the
boy and his entire family will be killed. The exaggerated purpose of the gang is comical
in itself; however, when the gang succeeds in terrorizing a Sunday-school picnic, Twain
succeeds in his burlesque of Romanticism. The more Tom tries to convince Huck and
the rest of the boys that they are stealing jewelry from Arabs and Spaniards, the more
ridiculous the scene becomes. After the gang steals turnips and Tom labels them as
jewelry, Huck finally decides to resign because he "couldn't see no profit in it."