How Meaning is Produced and Reinforced in Poetry

Poetry uses various components of language to not only produce but reinforce profound and sometimes juxtaposing meanings. Poets use their incredible skills to produce a definition to match the meaning they are trying to produce. In order to truly understand how this is done, the difference between “meaning” and “definition” must be established. A simple definition can be used to give a precise meaning of a word. Yet a meaning of something is much more elaborate. It involves more analysis and perspective than a straight and narrow definition, although definitions can change when meanings change. In science, for example, some chemical can be defined in one way, but once its meaning is discovered to have changed, the definition, too, shall change. People can have different understandings for the same word, (“love,” for example,) making meanings permeable. And the same definition can be applied to multiple words, (for example, “the world” and “the planet.”) Meaning describes what it is, while the definition is the words used to describe it. Through various components of poetry, the meaning is produced through various defining words, very meticulously chosen, repeated, and placed in a way that reinforces meaning. 

In this paper, two poems written around the same time give two different meanings to London. These meanings are reinforced through their poetic forms, themes, imagery, wordplay, anaphora, and more to describe, interpret, and evaluate the subject of London. The two poets chosen for this project view London through two different perspectives, giving completely different meanings to the same subject. “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802,” by William Wordsworth, written in 1802 and “London,” by William Blake in 1794 are two poems from the same era about the same subject. The view of London on a quiet early morning versus the view of the city at midnight give opposing meanings to the city.

At the time leading up to the year these poems were written, London was going through turbulent times. Riddled with crime, harsh penalties, including public hangings, were handed out for even minor crimes, (Ferguson, 1998.) This was also a time where slaves were freed, America had broken away with its own independence, and the Gordon Riots, an emancipation from the Catholic Church, tore the city up and killed many (Ferguson, 1998.)  “London,” and “Upon Westminster Bridge,” were both written at a time when the French revolution against absolute monarchy spurred the rise of democracy and secularism throughout Europe. A huge media boom could be witnessed throughout, as well, as journalism and the press were gaining power. Because of this quick spreading of knowledge, rising social and economic inequalities were brought to light. Many kings were executed, many establishments overthrown. 

“London” is a sixteen line poem written in a pentameter that contains either three or four beats per line. The writer describes the city at midnight in a way that sheds light on the historical context surrounding it. The first stanza describes the writer walking at night through “charter'd” streets. The word “chartered” is used to describe things that are outlined and organized by the government or another corporate body. The fact that this word is repeated in the same stanza to describe both the streets and the river Thames sets up the meaning of control and constriction, themes that can be found throughout the poem. Blake also repeats the word “mark,” which can be defined is an observation, a word or symbol used to record or indicate, or discoloration or change in something caused by damage. In this case, marks of weakness and woe in all the faces he sees, the meaning of the word “mark” can be interpreted in any one of these ways, or perhaps be interpreted as a blend of all its definitions. 

The second stanza of “London” uses anaphora, or the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of clauses, to reinforce his theme. “In every” cry of man, cry of fear in the infant, in every ban, the writer describes that he can “hear” the “mind-forg'd manacles.” Manacles are defined as shackles or handcuffs. Here, the writer suggests that citizens have created their own constrictions in their own minds, holding themselves back by allowing the church and royalty to hold all the power. 

The last two stanzas bring about the subject of children and youth during such a turbulent time in European history. Chimney sweepers were typically children since they were small enough to fit down the chutes. This was a very dirty and dangerous job that resulted in cancer in these children, mostly orphans. Establishments such as churches used orphans as chimney sweeps. Here, the writer speaks of their cries of the sweepers in the “blackening” church. The word “blackened” can be defined as a settling of soot from the cleaning of chimneys in its literal form, or symbolic of the lack of innocence held by both the church and the children working to clean the chimneys. In lines 11 and 12, Blake uses this same tactic to describe the sighs of soldiers, which is personified to run down palace walls in blood. The unfortunate, hapless soldiers have no choice but to follow orders, and the word “palace,” is used in this case to describe the government. The writer means to say that the government has blood on its hands, for all the soldiers lost during the war, and all the lives lost during the Gordon Riots, perhaps referring to all the public hangings for petty crimes. The “sigh” indicates both discontent and powerlessness. 

But, what the writer hears most in the streets at midnight is the youthful harlot, whose curses blast the ear of a newborn infant, perhaps her own. Children having children. The lack of patience, understanding, and knowledge of motherhood leads to another generation learning the same; tears not comforted, but cursed at birth, doomed to continue the same lifestyle. The use of the oxymoronic “marriage hearse” to end the poem is a wonderful way to reinforce the meaning of hopelessness, disease, death, and doom. “Blights with plaque” indicates disease, probably spread from a prostitute to ruin marriages and lives. London and its people want to be the symbol of birth and health but are plagued with the blight of corruption and disease. “London” is a beautifully written poem using rhyme, rhythm, and anaphora to produce the meaning of this city at midnight. It tells of the unrest of society at a time when rest should be had. 

Similarly, “Upon Westminster Bridge,” uses various poetic form and factors to describe the same city upon sunrise, where everything seems to be at rest during a generally turbulent time in history. Symbols, imagery, and wordplay are used to reinforce this meaning of calm and rest. It is a 14-line sonnet set in iambic pentameter, with 5 beats per line. In this poem, London is viewed from the Westminster Bridge at sunrise. It starts off with a grand amplification of beauty felt to be the fairest that Earth has to show. This is perhaps a reflection of how the writer feels inside at the given moment, with his sharp soul taking the time to stop and appreciate it, for “dull would be he of could who could pass” it (line 2). Line three uses an oxymoron as well. “touching” and “majesty” suggests both vastness and awe as well as an intimate closeness. The sight of London from this perspective is both amazing as well as personal. 

Although the poem contains such positive words throughout to describe the beauty, majesty, splendor, and calm of the sight, there is an underlying theme of the darkness and discomfort of the city at the time, as was witnessed within the streets at midnight by another poet. The fact that Wordsworth uses “doth like a garment, wear,” to describe the morning beauty indicates that perhaps it is the morning itself that is beautiful. Just as a garment can be beautiful over an ugly body, this glorious morning is worn by an ugly city. The “smokeless air” described in line 8 brings back images of the chimney sweeps and the “blackened” churches. “Bright” and “glittery” juxtaposes this image as the poem describes the sights of the towers, temples, ships, and other landmarks of London viewed from afar. It can also describe the lack of fog on this particularly clear morning. London is known for its heavy morning fogs, giving the writer access to such a broad sight described as “silent and bare,” (line 5) Even the open fields of London were visible on this clear morning. 

Line 9 reinforces the meaning of the poem by exclaiming again what a grand sight of beauty is being witnessed. He compares this beauty to that of the countryside, valley, and hills, stating that the sun has never “steeped” so beautifully in his first splendor, never has the sun risen over a more beautiful place at this given moment. The use of the exclamation point is a symbol of this awe and excitement, which reinforces the meaning of the poem. 

The description of a calm and quiet London in the morning ends the poem with the personification of the city of London and the River Thames. Here, the river seems to glide on its own free will, houses sleep, and the heart of England, being London, is calm and still. This image of such calm, silent, openness is a stark opposition to the crowded, loud, and doomful feeling of the city described in “London.” 

Meaning is produced by these poets using imagery, wordplay, and form. This meaning is reinforced by repetition, rhythm, symbols, and anaphora. Two different meanings of the same city can be felt in these two poems. The writers do an excellent job of conveying their perspectives through the use of descriptive words and format. Every reader can take a different meaning within the context of the poem, depending on their individual interpretations, evaluations, analyzations, and criticisms of the poem. For example, in the last stanza of “London,” one might not interpret the new-born infant as belonging to the young harlot, but perhaps another baby within earshot. The tears of the baby are now cursed upon hearing the cries of the young prostitute, perhaps heeding a warning to the next generation. In line 8 of “Upon Westminster Bridge,” the word “smokeless” could be interpreted as the lack of fog, or perhaps a reference to the riots, crime, and turmoil of the city; on this particular morning, London is calm and quiet, “smokeless,” without turmoil. 

Meaning and definition can be a tricky thing to interpret when dissecting poetry. Form, meter, and other poetic factors contribute to the opposing themes of amazement, appreciation, awe, and death, disease, and doom.

References

Blake, W. (1794/2000). London. In The Norton anthology of English literature. Abrams, M. H., & Greenblatt, S. (Eds.). New York: Norton, pp. 457-58.

Ferguson, N. (1998). The house of Rothschild 1798-1848. London: Penguin Books. 

Wordsworth, W. (1802/2000). Composed upon Westminster bridge, September 3, 1802. In The Norton anthology of English literature. Abrams, M. H., & Greenblatt, S. (Eds.). New York: Norton, pp. 296.