William Blake and William Wordsworth

William Blake and William Wordsworth are two poets that have a few very different views on
life and the world. And quite a few close similarities, particularly their writing style, as in the
way express their thoughts.
Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District. The
country and beautiful landscape struck Wordsworth's imagination and gave him that love of
nature that he is now famous for. As a country poet he isn't used to the dark alleys of
London like Blake was and rather than seeing cities as a mark on the landscape, he sees
them as an addition. A thing of equal beauty "This City now doth, like a garment, wear, The
beauty of the morning; silent, bare." You can tell he was only visiting London as he compares
it to all the natural metaphors and similies he is used to, and it is a surprise to write about
cities, since most of his other poems were about nature. If he maybe had stayed a few
months he would not have thought as much to it as he does in the poem, maybe because it
is so different to the kind of landscape he is used to - he sees it in a positive light.
He visited France in 1790 and was influenced by the turmoil of the French Revolution he was
also greatly affected by his brother's death in 1805. The oppressive rule of France and the
chaos and bloodshed of the revolution that he witnessed hit hard on Wordsworth's soft,
emotional way of thinking. He had to reinvent a whole new understanding of the world and
of the human mind in more solid terms.
William Blake was born November 28th 1757, it is evident in his poems he had an awareness
of the harsh realities of his life-"In every voice, in every ban, the mind-forged manacles I
hear". Here Blake is talking about the oppression of the city of London and how the mind is
chained-, which is metaphorical, but he is saying almost how the people of the city are
losing their individuality.
As a young boy he had a vision of seeing angels in the trees. These mystical visions returned
throughout his life, leaving a mark on his poetry and outlook on life. His artistic talent was
noticed by many and encouraged. At ten years old, he began engraving, he was very
creative and he started his first poem 1773. Blake hated the church; he believed that the
truth was learned by personal revelation, not by teaching. In the end he started to think that
all religions were one and there wasn't any correct religion to follow.
Wordsworth's verdict after Blake's death reflected many opinions of the time: "There was no
doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which
interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott."
Blake's style of writing was mostly pointing out a lot of negative aspects about things,
relating many objects or places to political problems.
In Blake's London- Blake has a very pessimistic and sad look on the city. Blake also used
metaphors, similes and personification but referring to the political problems happening, as
well as problems with the city- this could be not just London but all cities in Britain at the
time. For example-"... every blackening church appalls..." this is not just skin deep as the
church walls were actually black with pollution and dirt, but on a deeper level where he is
talking about the corruption in the church.
Many of his works at that time expressed the beauty of a pure nature, while "Composed
upon Westminster Bridge" praised the way nature and civilization could coexist- how the city
was just as beautiful as the countryside but in a different, deeper way. "Ships, towers,
domes, theatres, and temples lie, Open unto the fields, and to the sky."
In many of his poems, Wordsworth begins to go more and more into his own mind, not
actually looking at surface appearances but looking through that sometimes into an almost

trance-like state. "Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things." He
says that in one of his poems in Tintern Abbey.
Blake however is quite different and is deep in a different way. But here he uses a very
negative tone to help convey his point. The whole way through he continues his downbeat
oppressive tone and describing everything that's wrong with London. "And mark in every
face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe."- Commenting on how everyone in the city
are the victims of an endless work, to keep the city running constantly, he describes how
this is sucking out the souls of people the more they work.
Blake also seems to use a downbeat negative tone to give an actual gloomy effect. He
says..."how the youthful harlot's curse, blasts the new-born infants tear". That line basically
means that teenagers are forced into prostitution for money and how if they are
impregnated without a father then that child is doomed to be the son of a prostitute. The
child is born into a life of poverty and the cycle just keeps going on and on.
Wordsworth- possibly because of a better upbringing, has a more positive outlook on life and
can find it easy to see most things in their own kind of beauty. Unlike Blake who found it
hard not to look at the landscape itself but see everything wrong with what it stood for- "And
the hapless soldier's sigh, Runs in blood down palace walls." From 'London' instead of
marveling at the palace like Wordsworth would have done- he looks at it and 'reads between
the lines'- how soldiers are sent to their deaths, and how the city profits from it.
In conclusion, Blake and Wordsworth are similar in styles on writing but believe very different
things. Blake was thought mad by many but he just had strong thoughts coming from his
own experiences. Wordsworth on the other hand was simply a very philosophical poet, in
many of his poems going into a trance-like state "seeing the inner beauty of things."