 So now that we've reviewed key contextual information relating to in a London drawing room by George Elliot Let's now do a line by line analysis of this poem So now let's do a line by line analysis of in a London drawing room By George Elliot's and of course remember that this poem appears as part of a QA's worlds and lives Anthology, okay, so I'm going to do is I'm going to begin by reading the entire Stanza of this poem is written in just one stanza and then once I do that I'll literally do a line by line analysis starting with the title and of course each sentence within this stanza So I'm going to begin by reading through it in a London drawing room The sky is cloudy yellowed by the smoke For view there are the houses opposite cutting the sky with one long line of wall like solid fog Far as the eye can stretch monotony of surface and a form without a break to hang a guess upon No bird can make a shadow as it flies for always shadow as in ways Overhung by the thickest canvas where the golden rays are clothed in hemp No figure lingering pauses to feed the hunger of the eye or rests a little on the lap of life All hurry on and look upon the ground or glance unmarking at the passes by the wheels are hurrying to Carriages all closed in multiple identity The world seems one huge prison house in court where men are punished at the slightest cost With lowest rate of color warmth and joy So let's now go over the title to begin with in a London drawing room So this poem describes the speaker's view from their drawing room Okay, so context you remember that George Elliot wrote this in 1865 Describing Victorian London and of course I've mentioned this in the context notes But if somebody so first you remember that drawing room was usually a really really nice Living room in a very large mansion. So of course even from the title We kind of are told and in the the social status of the speaker is indicated, right? They're definitely upper class and of course the viewing things from that perspective Now the word in in a London drawing room, right? This preposition is somewhat misleading because We think we'll learn what's inside the drawing room, right when we actually just look at first just at the title We're thinking okay call this poem is going to probably be about you know What's going on inside this really nice and fancy drawing room, right? So this preposition is quite misleading. However, we then of course learn as we read through this poem that actually this sitting in Their standpoint or rather where they're sitting inside the drawing room They're actually describing the city that they see outside. Okay, so this is really interesting Now of course when you're also thinking about this I've mentioned this already But this title especially the reference to drawing room illustrates just how privilege and shelter the speaker is from the city's harshness Okay, that they're watching the city, you know and the harshness and stark reality of the city But from a very comfortable and sheltered view. Okay, so the the nicely distant from it Now when you're thinking about the Structure of the poem as I said, it's one single stanza of 19 lines written in iambit pentameter and what this is Illustrating illustrating when you're thinking about George Elliot Perhaps what she did and why she deliberately did this is to suggest the monotony of city life Okay, this this meter iambit pentameter is being used maybe to show the repetitive monotony of city life Now on the first line the speaker refers to how the sky is cloudy yellowed by the smoke now here Pathetic fallacy is used quite effectively because it's illustrating how the sky in London is tainted by all the smoke and pollution of The city of industry and of course of the industrial revolution in the second line where the speaker refers to for view There are the houses opposite here. They use on John Montt and what they're illustrating is the view from what what they can see is quite Drab and uninspiring and the third line this reference to one long long line of wall here They're using hyperbole the speaker is using hyperbole and what that is saying and what they're showing the image that they're painting in our minds Is that the houses all around the city that they're viewing create a barrier? There's a barrier between man and nature. Okay, and nature has been blocked out and sidelined Also, the speaker uses this simile to illustrate how the city's houses are blocking and cutting off the sky There's this clear division between man-made objects and nature However, there's this emphasis and this reference perhaps to how unnatural and how monotonous and uninspiring this has made city life become also this reference to the words cloudy and smoke in lines one and fog in lines four illustrates how Drab dull and dark the city is okay. This is really really powerful imagery Now in the next line this reference to the monotony of surface and of form here The speaker is using on John Montt to slow down the pace of the poem, right? It's dragging on much like life is dragging on for Londoners and The reference to surface and form in this line Illustrates how this line of houses is identical in surface and it's uniform. Okay on John Montt Usually actually creates anticipation But here right Elliot is actually using it somewhat ironically because she's piling on one disenchanting image on top of another Now in the next line this reference to without break to hang a guess upon here What the speaker is basically saying is that all the houses that they can see in London looks really predictable There's no mystery to explore. There's no shape to question They're all kind of really really kind of almost copycat and there's nothing interesting that stands out Also, the reference to how there's no bird that can make a shadow here We can see that the birds are overshadowed by the darkness and density of urban life and the reference and the repetition of Shadow illustrates that the sun another aspect of nature Can't cut through all the smoke and all the fog and all the pollution Of course, what we're getting is a really really dark image of this city Now the reference to overhung by the thickest canvas here What the speaker is basically saying is that the shadow that's being cast is like a huge canvas that's hanging over the city And the reference to golden rays is it's there's this contrast between, you know This man-made pollution and nature the sun being vibrant and colorful But that's been blocked out by, you know, this overpowering man-made objects and artifacts and of course also the pollution Now the reference to these golden rays being clothed in hemp Here the speaker uses caesura to illustrate how the sun's rays are covered by hemp, which is a common dull material Also, this present continuous verb shows that nobody in London is standing still the rushing ahead, right? And this is very typical of London city life even today, right? And the speaker is showing here that, you know, everyone's just really tense. They're running around So the city not only is it drab, monotonous, uninspiring But people don't even have time to stop and smell the flowers as it were Also this metaphor illustrates that no one can even Pause and satisfy the curiosity by looking around The only person who can actually look around and who has the luxury of looking around is this speaker Who's seated in a drawing room they don't have to go and work to make the daily bread They're the only people who can kind of look around but of course as they look around on this city They're realizing just how uninspiring it is and how people actually to some extent also seem trapped Also the reference to rest a little and lap of life here The speaker's using metaphor and alliteration showing that in the busy metropolis, right this busy city No one can pause enjoy the area It's only the speaker who can pause and gaze from the comfort of their drawing room Also the reference to eye look and glance head the language belonging to the semantic field of vision Actually ironically illustrates the lack of vision people have right people can't stop and enjoy what's around them The sights and sounds around them They literally are just working and going to and from work only having maybe enough time to rest before the wake up For another day of drudgery Also the reference to all this pronoun What the speaker is trying to do here and of course also the poet by extension is They're emphasizing how everybody's lost their individuality the crowd only stands out to the speaker as observing it Because it's so uniform Also the reference to hurry and look on the ground Once more this reference to what they can see vision the speaker does this to just Reemphasize that everyone's gaze is cast down the spirits are broken in the city, which is in the throes of the industrial revolution Then the harsh consonants in the words cabs and courage Shows us the harsh reality that everyone in London is in the they're in a rush They're actively avoiding eye contact with other city dwellers They don't even have time to form relationships with each other, right because they're too busy just running around Working and belly even making a living Also the fact that all is closed, right here. We've got sezura and there's this sense of entrapment that's been created through sezura Then the speaker states The world seems one huge prison house and court now This use of hyperbole metaphor within this phrase is really powerful because we can see here that the city dwellers feel trapped By industrialization and urbanization, right? I mean the whole point of industrialization and urbanization was to make our lives easier However, ironically, right living as urbanites. They actually feel they've become even more trapped Then the speaker refers to where the men are punished and here What the speaker is basically trying to illustrate is that the working classes are one big faceless machine That's trapped and punished by this endless cycle of work and obligation And then the final line this reference to color warmth and joy Here the speaker uses rule of three to portray Really depressing image of life in London and by extension to be honest industrial cities, which are popping up As a result of the industrial revolution, right? So of course Not only is this poem emblematic of london at the time right in the victorian era when it was at the height of the industrial revolution It also is symbolic of other cities like manchester Leeds sheffield new castle all of these spaces that were touched by the industrial revolution and these factories sprung up However, the speaker is basically showing that this happened at a really massive cost There's this distance between man and nature and of course everybody seems really really sad downcast and trapped by life in the city So that's really it when it comes to this poem. I hope you've enjoyed it And of course if you like this video do consider subscribing to this channel. Thank you so much for listening