Concetti Chiave
- Blake's "London" critiques the industrial city as a place of social injustice and exploitation, highlighting grief and weakness as pervasive experiences.
- Victims of this societal exploitation include chimney sweepers, soldiers, and prostitutes, who face harsh realities due to systemic inequalities.
- Prostitution is depicted as a consequence of poverty and societal neglect, with young women forced into it due to lack of options and support.
- London is described as divided into the impoverished east and affluent west, with a facade of social propriety masking underlying injustices.
- The "Marriage hearse" oxymoron symbolizes false societal norms and appearances, critiquing marriage as a social contract devoid of genuine love.
Indice
Blake's view on industrial London
It’s another social denunciation. Songs of Experience. Blake described London as a big industrial city with 725.000 habitants.
The country was seen like something of free. The poet was walking in the industrial time (durty, smells…). The bad thing were created by the society. Everywhere he saw grief, sorrow and weakness. Nothing of right, good and justice. This such situation was created by the mind/reason.
Social exploitation and its victims
The victims of this social exploitations were:
- - soldiers: they were made to fight and to leave their family in a war and they might die;
- Prostitution was the way to spread the plague during the industrial time. It was always an expression of poverty: young women sold their selves.
Lots of country people moved to the towns and the young women went to work to the rich house as house maid. Most times the landlords might rape/seduce the young and, as they were ignorant, they hadn’t any possibilities to refuse it. They got pregnant and so they were dismissed as they were unworthy and they were guilty, so they were obliged to leave the house.
Consequences of exploitation
After the childbirth they had a child to look after and they didn’t work so the only possibility to live on was to take to prostitution. That meant unhealthy and bad life. They got ill from syphilis or they took to drinking and so they looked older. -> That’s why Blake used them to denounce the social injustice of the industrial time.
For a long time, London was divided into two sides:
- east side: poor, prostitutions, hard games;
- west side: rich and lords. They went to the east side during the night, but their social appearance was perfect.
Marriage as a social condition
The “Marriage hearse” is an oxymoron ‘cause the marriage wasn’t a happy tool, it was something of false, it wasn’t the result of love, it was a social condition. It’s a little irony too, good appearance hide the injustice/bad life.
Io vago lungo ogni strada sfruttata commercialmente
Vicino dove il gli argini del Tamigi scorrono
E vedo in ogni faccia che incontro
Segni di debolezza, segni di dolore
In ogni urlo di ogni uomo,
in ogni pianto di paura degli infanti,
in ogni voce, in ogni bando/divieto,
io sento le manette forgiate dalla mente.
Come l’urlo dello spazzacamino
Scuote ogni scurita chiesa,
e il sospiro di un soldato sfortunato
scorre nel sangue giù dalle mura del Palazzo.
Ma soprattutto per le strade a mezzanotte io sento
Come la maledizione della giovane prostituta
Distrugge/asciuga il pianto del nuovo infante nato,
e contamina con le infezioni il carro funebre delle nozze.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è la visione di Blake su Londra durante l'era industriale?
- Chi sono le vittime principali dell'ingiustizia sociale secondo il testo?
- Come viene rappresentata la prostituzione nel contesto industriale?
- Qual è il significato dell'ossimoro "carro funebre delle nozze"?
Blake descrive Londra come una città industriale piena di dolore, debolezza e ingiustizia sociale, causata dalla società stessa.
Le vittime principali sono gli spazzacamini, i soldati e le prostitute, che soffrono a causa dello sfruttamento sociale.
La prostituzione è vista come un'espressione di povertà e una via per diffondere malattie, causata dalla mancanza di opportunità per le giovani donne.
L'ossimoro rappresenta il matrimonio come una condizione sociale falsa e infelice, che nasconde ingiustizie e una vita difficile.
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