Tangerine Dream do a very good performance of this piece, 'London' well worth finding, on an album from the 80s (?) called 'Tyger, Tyger' featuring more of Blakes verse including 'The Fly'. Along with William Hogarth, Blake knew how cruel, ugly, short and brutal the common mans life in the 18C cd be...
A great reading. You might like to know that the second illustration is by the fantastic Gustav Dore. In his book 'London: A Pilgrimage', he captured enough dark scenes like this for a 100 poems about poverty.
I really enjoy this poem. It is interesting to compare it to "Upon Westminster Bridge" by William Wordsworth; a poem about London written 8 years later. SpokenVerse has this uploaded already.
This timeless poem is still as relevant in today's London as it was in Blakes' time. Don't believe me? just pay attention next time your on that awful bus journey, in that hospital waiting room or siting at that bar.
Great video. It's funny how London is so often depicted in a negative way in artistic works; no matter whether you read Blake's "London" or, say, Dickens' "Oliver Twist", Ralph McTell's "Streets of London" or the disturbing surrealist visions of the city found in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land", London nearly always comes off as a distinctly unpleasant place.
We have tried to fix the faults Blake pointed out 200 years ago.
We washed the soot from the churches and blood from the palace walls. Boys who sweep chimneys now get shoes and bigger brushes. The harlots have to learn etiquette. We run TV ads to warn people about sexually transmitted diseases.
cool u gave this to swallow the sun :) made me goose bumps!
baum42 3 weeks ago
Hi I'm a French "Blake lover" what do you think of my work.
Look on my page and on my site: lezarts.info
fernandpena 5 months ago
Great voice for Blake. You say 'blights' for 'blasts' in the second last verse . . .
cheapfeet 8 months ago
@cheapfeet You get a gold star for observation. As my old maths teacher used to say to cover such lapses, "It's to see if you're paying attention".
SpokenVerse 8 months ago 4
Good voice for it. Thanks.
KiddShaolin 9 months ago
the verve used a couple of verses of this poem in theri song HISTORY
ooshkka 11 months ago
prelims coming up and have to compare this and composed upon westminster bridge for english, very hard
animals68 1 year ago
Rather amusing I must admit. Though I find "I heard an Angel" one of the best poems made by William Blake.
DemMedHornene 1 year ago
Tangerine Dream do a very good performance of this piece, 'London' well worth finding, on an album from the 80s (?) called 'Tyger, Tyger' featuring more of Blakes verse including 'The Fly'. Along with William Hogarth, Blake knew how cruel, ugly, short and brutal the common mans life in the 18C cd be...
slessorpr 2 years ago
A great reading. You might like to know that the second illustration is by the fantastic Gustav Dore. In his book 'London: A Pilgrimage', he captured enough dark scenes like this for a 100 poems about poverty.
tonyellis69 2 years ago
I really enjoy this poem. It is interesting to compare it to "Upon Westminster Bridge" by William Wordsworth; a poem about London written 8 years later. SpokenVerse has this uploaded already.
aaronmcc23 2 years ago
This timeless poem is still as relevant in today's London as it was in Blakes' time. Don't believe me? just pay attention next time your on that awful bus journey, in that hospital waiting room or siting at that bar.
northenSky73 3 years ago 2
Ah the forever dark William Blake... always makes me run to the OT.
SuddenSparkles 3 years ago
Great video. It's funny how London is so often depicted in a negative way in artistic works; no matter whether you read Blake's "London" or, say, Dickens' "Oliver Twist", Ralph McTell's "Streets of London" or the disturbing surrealist visions of the city found in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land", London nearly always comes off as a distinctly unpleasant place.
Demiath 3 years ago
There are so many faces of London... it's always interesting how people percieve different aspects of it.
Yvyne 3 years ago
We have tried to fix the faults Blake pointed out 200 years ago.
We washed the soot from the churches and blood from the palace walls. Boys who sweep chimneys now get shoes and bigger brushes. The harlots have to learn etiquette. We run TV ads to warn people about sexually transmitted diseases.
Actually, though, it's much the same.
SpokenVerse 3 years ago 5
True. Repetition in different shapes is just the way history goes, I guess.
Yvyne 3 years ago
@SpokenVerse I have to do a dangerously hard essay on this poem!
yastunt 1 year ago
@SpokenVerse The river isn't reeking and on fire. Climate control and safe access to food are both common. Don't get hung for stealing. Cheers
S2Cents 1 year ago
The repetitions serve as an ominous echo, like footsteps on cobblestone.
Ahavati1 3 years ago