Commentary on London and Sick Rose Essay

What is the true essence of hope in a persons life? The idea of its role and significance cannot be easily measured. Hope encourages a person to go on and be able to overcome the many hardships of life. Its presence lets in faith which is a very important factor in life since it allows the person to stay positive instead of concentrating on the negative and depressing aspects. However the moment when a person loses hope is a very dramatic change since the entire outlook on life is therefore altered. William Blake touched upon the subject of hopelessness in several of his works including London and Sick Rose. The poet incorporated the literally elements in the texts to illustrate and emphasize the strong and deeps feelings of depressiveness and desperation. Both works elucidate the lack of hope, impossibility of a solution and disillusionment which are the results of the vanished hope.

An important element which is present in both, London and Sick Rose is tone, which signifies the gloomy mood that is present throughout the poems. It is full of desperation and disillusionment which makes the works richer and deeper. For instance in London, Blake describes the idea that no one can escape the hopelessness of this practical society. In every cry of every Man, in every Infants cry of fear illustrates the depressive tone which accompanies this text and makes it even more sorrow. The tone as well as the poem itself shows that there is no hope, no chance to find a solution or at least some type of an improvement. In Sick Rose the tone gains more emotions because of its role shifts from emphasizing the main idea or the poet to accentuating his actual choice of words. When Blake states for instance, The invisible worm, that flies in the night, the tone has more than just negativity but even some disgust and repulsion added to it.

Another element which was chosen by Blake to represent the lack of hope in both London and Sick Rose is symbolism. In London one of the symbols is the idea of infants crying of fear. Infants represented all the weak people of the society who include women, children, and the elderly. These people are the ones that usually rely and depend on others for help and guidance. Blake emphasized the infants also because he wants to show that they were just born and the first thing that they see is this depressive world full of desperation which scares them causing to cry. Another interpretation of it is the idea of infants being represented as the new generation which has to correct the mistakes of the previous generation. In Sick Rose the rose itself is the main symbol. Rose which usually represents beauty and femininity in this case is referred to as sick, which creates a contradiction. Since usually the rose signifies something lovely and attractive, the idea of it being sick can be interpreted as an outcome, for instance as a loss of innocence.

Both of these poems illustrate the state of a vanished hope which creates a very depressing setting and the impossibility of finding a solution. Blake describes everything in the manner which signifies disillusionment which took place in both poems and the state of despair which is left after the hope disappears. In order to allow an idea of a solution into the poems they must be changed entirely. Every aspect of it will need to be altered the tone, the symbols used, the narration, and the description. Blake describes things from his own, the nonconformist point of view. His personal beliefs are present throughout and his own state of mind prevents any light of hope to be incorporated in the poems.

Both poems, London and Sick Rose by William Blake share some of the similar concepts. They allocate several characteristics and the idea of the vanished hope. The poet made these perceptions of the disillusionment and the impossibility of improvement lucid not only by the text but also by the literally elements which he chose to use. By stressing the point of hopelessness in the poems, Blake is able to further more signify the importance of it. Hope is an important factor of life which allows people not to give up and to continue to fight for what they want and to be able to overcome the many hardships which they encounter.