Or perhaps they noticed that this binary system, stressed or unstressed, is really quite rudimentary natural speech is never so simple. They had noticed that even so-called “standard” pronunciation varies wildly (for example, is “homage” pronounced “ho-MAGE” or “HO-mage”? In fact, both are pretty common, according to the pronunciation guide in the Oxford English Dictionary). They had noticed all those single-syllable words-like “hips”-which are never consistently stressed or unstressed. Most English speakers say suc-CESS and CIR-cuit SUC-cess and cir-CUIT are practically different words.īut while few of my first-year students start out knowing why this system works, almost everyone has some idea of its imperfections. They had not learned that in a stress-timed language, a listener’s comprehension of multisyllabic words depends on a speaker’s pronunciation stresses occur differently in mora- and syllable-timed languages. Few know that it works because English is a stress-timed language, and it doesn’t work the same way for, say, Japanese or French, which are mora-timed and syllable-timed, respectively. So, in more ways than one, this poem's form and meter either advance or reflect the ideas it's trying to get across.A dash and u-shaped marking are often used to denote stressed and unstressed syllables, respectively.īut few students enter college knowing why this system, “scansion,” was designed in the first place. This is nowhere more evident than in the fact that the lone E rhyming sound of lines 6, 8, 14, and 16 ('fear,' 'hear,' 'hear,' 'tear') occurs in both the second and fourth stanzas. The repetition of sound suggests that what the speaker sees around him is cyclical or repetitive-that the evils of London will continue to persist. In each stanza, every other line rhymes (which gives us a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GDGD). Notice also how the poem rhymes-this too is a form of repetition. Notice how many words appear two or more times ('charter'd,' 'marks,' 'Infant,' 'cry,' 'street'). If it sounds like we're repeating ourselves, that's because we've been infected by the repetitive spirit of this poem.

7 is less than 8, which makes those lines with fewer syllables seem, well, a little restricted. In other words, just about half of the lines in this poem are marked, to use one of Blake's own words, as restricted or compressed or confined. Think of words like 'charter'd,' 'manacles,' and 'ban,' for example. It also reminds us of one of Blake's other major themes: the ways in which social life is constricted, confined, repressed, etc. This division between types of lines reflects the divisions and fractures that the speaker sees everywhere in London. In a poem of 16 lines, this is almost half of the poem. There are exactly 7 lines that contain 7 syllables. It is sick, incomplete, imperfect- just like all the people the speaker meets. Alternatively, you could say that the line itself is plagued by a weakness-it has one less syllable than it should. Our astonishment at this little metrical hiccup mimics the speaker's own astonishment at all the weakness and woe around him. That stanza might be read as a further description of those same 'marks.' In fact, it's interesting that the first time this occurs is in line 4, precisely when Blake is talking about 'marks of weakness' and 'marks of woe.' At that exact moment, the meter itself becomes weak-7 is less than 8, right? The same is true of the poem's third stanza, in which every line contains only 7 syllables. The shift from 8 beats to 7 is quite noticeable. Okay, so what are we to make of this metrical variation, of which our friend William Blake was quite fond? Well, we have a few different answers for you. Many of them also contain anapests (two unstressed syllables, followed by a stressed syllable).

Come to think of, there are a number of other lines that contain only seven syllables (like this one), including lines 4, 9-12, and 14-15. You'll notice that the first beat (or foot) contains two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, while the last two beats are your regular, run-of-the-mill iambs.

Sadly, not every single line in this poem is so perfect. Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. It sounds like daDUM (if you say 'allow' out loud, you'll hear an iamb). Now, an iamb is a beat that consists of an unstressed syllable, followed by a stressed syllable. This little meter is very similar to iambic pentameter, except that, instead of five iambs there are only four iambs (tetra means four, so tetrameter means four of the same meter). For the most part, 'London' is written in iambic tetrameter.

Scansion marks